As of next season, up until the 2024 season, the Big 12 will be airing three of its football championship games and most of the conference team’s games through ESPN. This is a a very important deal, in that the Big 12 is seeming not to expand or get its own network deal in the next five years. And the teams participating in this ESPN airing agreement next season include: Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State. The other teams joining the agreement in 2020 are: Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
Now you may ask, what does have to do with the Big 12 Conference showing their cards? This is where you see that the conference has opted out of their own network construction to at least 2024. While the Big 12 teams are sitting here with an ESPN deal, all of the other conferences are generating their own revenue with their own networks to air their sports. These networks are the main reasons for schools joining conferences because there is so much money coming from them.
We see a Big 12 Conference without any real incentives to join except for exposure and more money. However, that is the case for all the other Power-5 conferences and gives nothing to the Big 12 to use over the other conferences as bait. With talks of Houston, Memphis, and Cincinnati of potentially being new expansion teams, we now know these teams to be less likely to join now. Now this truly sounds like a conference that is not looking to expand anytime soon.
Was this a good move for the Big 12 Conference? Or should the conference just invest into a network already? Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @redcupcollegesports.
Photo Credits: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/texas/article/New-ESPN-deal-with-Big-12-lands-3-football-title-13756340.php
