Money Money Money

The news is out. The Big Ten has signed a media rights deal with various entities that is worth somewhere north of seven billion dollars. FOX, FS1, CBS, NBC, and of course the Big Ten Network will all have rights to broadcast games on on main channels and also through streaming services such as Peacock. Cue that SEC B1G music!

So what will this mean to you, the salt of the earth B1G fan who just wants to grill steak and watch football and maybe sometimes basketball?

• No changes this year. The deal doesn’t start until 2023, so no need to think about this stuff at all for a bit.
• Invest in Peacock. NBC will air Big Ten games, but only night games. They will, however, have the rights to some games they will put on Peacock, their streaming service. Peacock also will stream basketball games as well. This appears to be the only service that you will need if you are a completionist - CBS will air games on Paramount Plus but not exclusively, so you don’t need that service to watch the games. Also worth noting is that Peacock also carries the WWE network, so you have to assume we will get Bert Bielema on Monday Night Raw at some point.
• FOX, CBS, then NBC. It appears FOX will retain their Big Noon Kickoff and carry the noon kickoffs, while CBS will get the 3:30 slot, and then primetime games head to NBC. Good news if you like using an antenna. We will still get the assortment of games on FS1 and BTN.
• Next year will be wonky, as CBS will still have SEC games and B1G games. Gary Danielson will really be conflicted.
• The Game will probably stay on FOX. Still unclear how these games will be broken up, but FOX gets first choice each season, so they will probably choose Ohio State and Michigan.