National Collegiate Athletic Association

Latest News

« back to 2011 | Back to NCAA News Archive Index

Big 12 inks media rights deal with Fox

The Big 12 Conference today announced a 13-year broadcast rights deal with Fox Sports Media Group that includes exclusive cable rights to at least 40 football games per season, as well as to a variety of Olympic sports events and conference championships.

The new deal is effective with the 2012 football season. Financial terms were not disclosed by Fox or the league, but several media outlets reported the deal was worth more than $1 billion over the 13-year span. Beebe declined to confirm the terms but said he was confident they will put the league in the top tier with its television deals.

Brady Deaton, chancellor at Missouri and chair of the league’s presidential group, said the “outstanding agreement” showed the solid commitment the 10 member schools had to the conference in the wake of conference upheaval last summer that saw Nebraska and Colorado leave the league for the Big Ten and Pac-10, respectively.

“We voted unanimously to endorse this agreement, which is a demonstration of the commitment we made (to the Big 12) last summer,” Deaton said.

Beebe said the agreement means that starting in 2012, every Big 12 Conference football game will be televised in some way, either on an institutionally branded network, by Fox or through the conference’s primary football deal with ABC/ESPN. The ABC/ESPN agreement runs through 2015-16. Many of the Fox telecasts will be broadcast on FSN, with others scheduled for distribution on FX.

The agreement includes multimedia rights, including online, mobile and wireless opportunities.

“This landmark agreement positions the conference with one of the best television arrangements in collegiate sports,” said Beebe. “It exceeds the benchmarks as we move forward with our 10 members by providing significant revenue growth and increased exposure while allowing institutions to retain selected rights.

“Most importantly, the agreement signifies the long-term commitment of the member institutions to one another. The conference is delighted to continue its partnership with Fox and build on the momentum the FSN network has generated for the Big 12 brand through our first 15 years.”