B1G Money
ZWF #28: Sunday, August 21, 2022
It had been the biggest secret in college football for quite some time that the Big Ten Conference was in for a massive payday when their media rights deal expired. This week, we learned just how much more money the conference will receive, and from which new media partners.
Inside this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts, a summary of the Big Ten Conference’s new media rights deal, and a look at what Zander’s been reading this past week. Plus, a compilation of the top news and sports headlines from the past week.
Also, go listen to the latest episode of the Zander’s Facts podcast! Episode 72 features a preview of the upcoming European club soccer season. Zander’s Facts soccer analyst Emma Adams joins the pod to predict who will win the top European leagues and rank the top Premier League clubs. Download and listen to the Zander’s Facts podcast, including this week’s ZF Flashback, wherever you get your podcasts!
Zander’s Weekend Facts is here to give you the facts about what has been going on in the world around us this past week. You’ll just have to read these facts, instead of listening to them on the Zander’s Facts podcast.
Here are Zander’s Weekend Facts for Sunday, August 21, 2022:
The Big Ten gets some Big Money
It’s been no secret that the world of intercollegiate athletics has been rapidly changing for a while now. And a big reason for that change has just as equally been no secret. Well now, one of the major college athletic conferences has signed a media rights deal that will give them even more of that big reason for change. (It’s money if you didn’t realize by now.)
It’s a big deal, and it has the potential to continue the upending of the college sports model.
On Thursday, the Big Ten Conference announced that it had reached a seven-year media rights deal with CBS, Fox, and NBC. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, all athletic events occurring on the campuses of Big Ten schools will air on a CBS, Fox, or NBC platform.
The deal is a major shift in several ways.
First, the combined value of the deals is reportedly $1.2 billion, marking the first time that a college athletic conference will be raking in over $1 billion per year from media rights. The deals will provide a significant revenue boost for the conference and its 14 (soon to be 16) schools. In 2024, when UCLA and USC are expected to join the conference, the league will be distributing an average of $75 million per year to each of its schools, the most out of any conference.
Second, the Big Ten has focused their new deal on the big money maker, football. The conference is planning to have an unprecedented triple-header of games each Saturday in the fall on three separate broadcast networks. Under the new deal, Fox will air games at noon et under the “Big Noon Saturday” window, followed by CBS at 3:30 pm et replacing their SEC deal, and NBC in primetime under a new “Big Ten Saturday Night” window. The Big Ten Championship Game, a Fox mainstay since its inception in 2011, will air on different networks, with CBS and NBC each airing the game at least once in the new deal. Games will also air on the Fox-owned FS1 and Big Ten Network, and exclusively on the NBC-owned Peacock streaming service.
Third, the deal leaves out a notable media partner, ESPN. For the first time since 1981, ESPN will not be broadcasting Big Ten home football games beginning in the 2023 season. The Big Ten also becomes the first power five conference to break away from ESPN, with the other four having at least some of their rights controlled by the network, a risk that is unclear whether it will pay off. It also means that ESPN will not broadcast any home Big Ten basketball, baseball, soccer, or any other sport’s games. ESPN and other networks will still be able to broadcast games involving Big Ten schools when they are visitors or on a neutral site.
But the ultimate way in which this deal changes things is in the economic sense. The $75 million payout to each school in the conference would be the highest out of the power five conferences. Here’s one potential projection of how much each conference will dole out in media rights money to each school in the next few years (note that this was created before it was announced that UCLA and USC would join the Big Ten):
While there already is a gap between the two top conferences and the three bottom ones, that gap is expected to widen significantly by the end of the current decade. The power five will essentially become a power two.
With the Big Ten’s new deal becoming official, we are moving ever closer to that reality.
I provided my take on the current situation in college sports earlier this summer here on Zander’s Weekend Facts, which you can read from the link below:
For more information on the Big Ten Conference’s new media rights deal, check out these articles:
CBS Sports - Big Ten reaches seven-year media rights deal with CBS, Fox and NBC for football, basketball through 2029-30
ESPN - Big Ten completes 7-year, $7 billion media rights agreement with Fox, CBS, NBC
Sports Business Journal - Big Ten officially agrees to new media deals with, Fox, NBC
What Zander’s been reading this week
This week’s featured article takes a look at the life of liberal media’s most popular television host, Rachel Maddow. Since 2008, Maddow has hosted The Rachel Maddow Show in the 9:00 pm et timeslot on MSNBC, regularly garnering one of the top cable news audiences of the day. However, Maddow is scaling back under a new deal with NBCUniversal, only hosting the program on Monday nights for the foreseeable future. This Vanity Fair interview and profile of Maddow focuses on what the future will hold, and how she’s stayed atop the left-leaning media for several years.
Read this week’s featured article in Vanity Fair - Rachel Maddow Gives Her First Interview As She Steps Back From The Nightly Grind And Revs Up For Her Next Act
Zander’s Facts Sporting Club
Here are the top sports stories from the week in the Sporting Club:
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson’s suspension has been upgraded to 11 games after a settlement between the NFL and it’s players association. Watson was originally suspended for six games under a ruling from former federal judge Sue L. Robinson that found that Watson did engage in sexual harassment and assault. The NFL is also fining Watson $5 million as part of the new settlement. If Watson does return for the Browns’ 12th game of the season, it would be against his former team, the Houston Texans.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has agreed to a 2-year contract extension with the team. James, who was entering the final year on his contract, signed a $97.1 million extension that will make him the highest-payed player in NBA history. The contract includes a player option for the second season which would allow James to enter free agency in summer 2024 if he wished. While playing for the Lakers since 2018, James has expressed interest in potentially playing with his son, LeBron “Bronny” James Jr., who will become eligible for the NBA Draft in 2024.
The National Basketball Association announced its schedule for the upcoming 2022-2023 regular season. On Wednesday, the league announced that the season will begin on Tuesday, October 18, with the postseason beginning on Saturday, April 15, 2023, and the NBA Finals starting on Thursday, June 1, 2023. The league announced all 82 games for each team, including the five annual Christmas Day games. Also announced were a couple of new additions to the schedule, including no games on Election Day while all 30 teams will play the day before and help promote voter participation, and the inclusion of a “Rivals Week” from January 24 through 28.
The UEFA Champions League will remain on CBS and Paramount+ for the foreseeable future on U.S. television. Paramount Global signed a new deal with UEFA which will allow all Champions League matches to remain with CBS Sports through 2030. CBS has carried the Champions League, along with UEFA’s other club competitions, the Europa League and Europa Conference League, since 2020. It was reported that Amazon provided the most competitive bid to Paramount. The Spanish-language television rights, which are currently held by Univision, have not yet had a deal signed beyond 2024.
The 2022 WNBA playoffs are currently underway. Eight teams are included in the first round, which includes best-of-three series which have been ongoing since Wednesday. The winners of the first-round series will advance to the semifinals, where two best-of-five series will determine who advances to the WNBA Finals, which are also best-of-five. Last year’s WNBA Finals champion, the Chicago Sky, are currently the second seed in the playoffs. All games in the WNBA playoffs, which run through the end of the WNBA Finals in September, will air on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2.
Rapid-fire Facts
Here are the top news headlines from the wen rapid-fire fashion:
The federal government announced new restrictions on water usage from the Colorado River. Arizona and Nevada now face new restrictions on how much water can be pumped from the river, which is facing historically low water levels. At Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the river’s two largest reservoirs, water levels are at just 28% of the total capacity. The restrictions add on to previous measures that were first announced last year when the U.S. government declared a water shortage at Lake Mead.
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Justice to file a redacted version of the affidavit used for the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago with the court. DOJ must submit a copy of the affidavit to U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart by Thursday. In court, the Department of Justice has signaled that they would prefer the affidavit stay sealed from the public, saying that a release could compromise the ongoing investigation. The order makes the release of the affidavit more likely and Judge Reinhart expressed willingness during Thursday’s court hearing to at least partially release the document.
Alaska and Wyoming held their primary elections this past Tuesday in anticipation of the November midterm elections. Rep. Liz Cheney, (R-WY) who has been one of the few Republicans to stand up against former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, lost her reelection bid to Harriet Hageman. In Alaska, the winner of a special election in the state’s lone House seat will be determined in the coming weeks. Former Alaska Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is running for the seat, along with fellow Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. Alaska is using ranked-choice voting for the first time this year to determine election winners, along with a nonpartisan primary process that selects the top four vote-getters in the primary to be on the ballot for the general election. This Tuesday, Florida will be holding its primary elections while New York will be holding primary elections for House races.
Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty to evading taxes on Thursday. Weisselberg struck a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to only serve five months in prison, be fined $2 million, and complete five years of probation. Weisselberg also agreed to testify in an October trial in which the Trump Organization is accused of assisting company executives, including Weisselberg, in avoiding paying income taxes.
Hearing aids will be available over-the-counter in the U.S. beginning this fall. The FDA approved a new regulation this week that will allow hearing aids to be sold without a prescription beginning in October. The new rules mean that a visit to the audiologist will no longer be needed to obtain hearing aids, a move that could save thousands for individuals seeking hearing aids.
Wrapping up the Facts
Before this edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts wraps up, here’s another reminder to check out the latest episodes of the Zander’s Facts podcast. Download and listen to Episode 72 and the latest ZF Flashback, along with every episode of Zander’s Facts, wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Zander’s Facts’ Linktree page for more on anything Zander’s Facts related: Zander's Facts on Linktree
Did you know that you can now listen to the Zander’s Facts podcast on this site? It’s true! All episodes of the Zander’s Facts podcast are now available on zandersfacts.substack.com under the “Zander’s Facts” tab for your enjoyment. That includes the latest ZF Flashback, which comes out this Wednesday!
Remember to check out the next edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts next Sunday! If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up with the link below to get Zander’s Weekend Facts in your email inbox every Sunday so you don’t miss anything!
That’s a wrap on this week’s edition of Zander’s Weekend Facts. The Facts in print return next Sunday, August 28, 2022.
