There is an opportunity that the Texas and Oklahoma enter the SEC sooner than anticipated as a consequence of the Big 12 beginning TV negotiations early with its rights holders, according to a report Wednesday by Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports and Horns247’s Chip Brown. The Big 12 and its TV companions, ESPN and FOX, are coming into early contract discussions concerning the subsequent tv deal for the league.
“Emphasizing the urgency of the proceedings, active conversations are ongoing as the Big 12 considers allowing Oklahoma and Texas to leave the conference early for the SEC, CBS Sports has learned,” Dodd wrote. “The two schools are bound to the Big 12 via their media rights deal for three more seasons.”
Dodd delved deeper into how.
“If Oklahoma and Texas ultimately leave the Big 12 early, Fox would likely have to be made whole financially because of the loss of the two lucrative TV ratings winners prior to the end of the deal in 2025,” Dodd wrote. “Fox’s Big 12 valuation is based on those schools staying for the next three seasons. There is also a Big 12 early-exit penalty to consider as breaking the existing grant of rights that would have to be negotiated. A grant of rights binds a school’s television rights to the conference if it were to leave before the term of a media rights deal.”
Commissioner Brett Yornmark launched the next assertion Wednesday after experiences, together with Pete Thamel, surfaced earlier within the morning:
“It is an exciting time for college athletics and given the changing landscape we welcome the opportunity to engage with our partners to determine if an early extension is in the best interest of all parties,” Yormark said. “The Big 12 has enjoyed a fantastic relationship with its multi-media rights holders, and I look forward to having these conversations.”
This comes greater than a yr and a half earlier than the league’s tv contract is about for a proper, unique negotiating window with each TV companions, in keeping with ESPN.
ESPN launched the next assertion shortly after Wednesday’s experiences got here to gentle, according to Jon Wilner:
“We often have interaction in conversations across the future with all of our companions, however to be clear, we have now not opened the contractual negotiation window with the Big 12 presently.”
While the talks may go on between the league and the networks, there isn’t any assure {that a} new deal can be reached. If no deal is reached, a deal can nonetheless be secured via a extra conventional timeline, according to ESPN.
“(Yormark) is doing what he should be doing, trying to gain an advantage,” an industry source told ESPN.
The news of the Big 12 partaking in these talks comes shortly after a TV deal that modified the best way school sports activities are considered in tv markets. Earlier in August, the Big Ten Conference reached a deal with CBS Sports, FOX and NBC via the 2029-30 seasons. The settlement was a document $1.2 billion, the most important in athletics historical past.
In addition to that deal, this news comes at a time the place large change is happening in school sports activities. Conference realignment has been ongoing for two years now, first with Texas and Oklahoma saying they had been leaving the Big 12 in the summertime of 2021, adopted by USC and UCLA saying they had been leaving the Pac-12 in the summertime of 2022. While the Big 12 took a success dropping Texas and Oklahoma, it has since made strikes to remain outstanding within the panorama of faculty sports activities.
Riley Gates contributed to this report.
story by The Texas Tribune Source link
