CFP, ESPN consent to $7

• Heather Dinich, ESPN Elder WriterMar 19, 2024, 02:47 PM ET Close College football press reporter Signed up with ESPN.com in 2007
• Graduate of Indiana University

The College Football Playoff and ESPN have agreed to a brand-new six-year, $7.8 billion agreement that guarantees the network will stay the sole media rights holder of the occasion through the 2031-32 season, it was jointly revealed Tuesday.ESPN, which has actually held exclusive broadcast rights given that the CFP started in 2015, will expand its bundle for the final 2 years of the present 12-year contract, which runs through the 2025-26 season. The CFP is revealing a 12-team format for the 2024-25 season, and ESPN will include all four of the brand-new first-round games each year to the network’s existing coverage of the New Year’s 6 bowls (now the quarterfinals and semifinals )and the CFP Championship game game.ESPN also secured a six-year agreement that will

cost $1.3 billion annually starting in the 2026-27 season and includes special rights to all rounds of the broadened playoff along with continued unique rights to all programs connected to the CFP, such as the CFP choice program, weekly Top 25 ranking shows and more.Editor’s Picks 1 Related”ESPN has worked really closely with the College Football Playoff over the previous decade to build among the most popular events in American sports,”

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a declaration.”We look forward to boosting our valued relationship over the next two years, and then continuing it for 6 more as we start this new, expanded playoff era.” This arrangement even more solidifies ESPN as the home of college football, in addition to the destination for the vast majority of significant college champions for the next eight years.

“The significant price tag shows the boost in games, as the current deal was originally built for seven games(including the New Year’s 6 bowls and the championship game),

and just 3 were really championship game( the 2 semifinals and the nationwide title game). The new agreement is developed as either 11 or 13 games– all of which are playoff games– in a 12 -or 14-team field.”We feel really good about the worth of what we’re getting in exchange for the financials being paid,”said Nick Dawson, ESPN senior vice president, college sports programming and acquisitions. “We firmly believe the event is going to be better, starting this fall at 12 groups, just in terms of how it’s going to mesmerize the country.”Beginning in 2026-27, the CFP National Championship game will be transmitted on ABC in addition to ESPN’s MegaCast presentation. The brand-new contract includes extensive rights to simulcast or MegaCast CFP games across all Walt Disney Company platforms, including TWDC direct-to-consumer offerings.Dawson said he doesn’t expect much to change in how the public watches these games which ABC and ESPN will be the”primary lorries moving forward with the deal. “”There is a right and flexibility to do early-round games on direct-to-consumer streaming services, however currently, no decision has been made on our side to even trigger that right, “Dawson said.” A lot of this is future-proofing where the world goes over basically 8 years, and we feel truly great about the flexibility we have, but in the

near term, I do not believe fans would anticipate to see much difference in regards to how the games are dispersed broadly across standard linear television. “The CFP format for this season and next will be five automated qualifiers from the five highest-ranked conference champs and seven at-large bids. Recently, the nine FBS commissioners and Notre Dame concurred the playoff will include a minimum of 12 teams in 2026 and beyond. The CFP has complete authority to identify the format.While several sources have told ESPN the CFP is favoring a 14-team field, the variety of teams and how they will get approved for the CFP hasn’t been determined beyond the next two seasons. There are securities in location for the ACC, Big 10, SEC and Big 12 conference champs, Notre Dame and the highest-ranked Group of 5 champ in the brand-new contract.Dawson stated the new television offer particularly deals with 12 -and 14-team models, but likewise consists of”a mechanism to attend to if they expand beyond 14 groups.” “I do believe at some point you start to actually impact the routine season and the championship game games,”Dawson stated.”I seem like they have actually done a terrific job so far of developing the 12-team model, and potentially even the 14-team design, although we ‘d still need to comprehend precisely what it appears like.

… I do stress that the larger you get beyond that, I think it ends up being practically impossible to avoid some damage being done there. “The CFP has actually given ESPN the right to sublicense a

choose number of games in both the changed two-year arrangement and the brand-new six-year extension.” As we sit here today, no choice has been made on our side whether we’ll even pursue it or not, “Dawson said.”It’s simply a right in the deal as of today.” Before accepting the media rights handle ESPN, the 9 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame leadership needed to first agree to sign a memorandum of understanding last week that outlined in broad terms what the next agreement would look like. They agreed to progress with a brand-new income circulation plan that will codify the additional monetary separation of the broadened Big Ten and SEC from everybody else in college athletics.The monetary distribution for the expected 14-team playoff will look radically different. On an annual basis, for instance, Big 10 and SEC

schools will each be making more than$21 million– an extreme increase from the nearly$5.5 million that schools in Power 5 conferences are presently being paid.In the ACC, the schools will get more than $13 million each year and Huge 12 schools will get more than$12 million each. Notre Dame is expected to get more than $ 12 million as well and sources told ESPN there will be a financial reward for any independent team that reaches the CFP.There will no longer be a CFP involvement benefit for any of the other leagues– a detail that was irritating to some leaders in the Group of 5. The Group of 5 schools’ annual payments will increase to just under$1.8 million from the existing $1.5 million.For now, the CFP is treating Oregon State and Washington State as independent schools in 2026 and beyond. Provided the conference’s uncertain

status with 10 schools leaving next season, new Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould did not sign the memorandum of understanding last week or the new six-year handle ESPN, however she did agree to the amended contract with the network for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.Now that the revenue and media rights deal have actually been agreed upon, the most important question remaining is what the format will look like in 2026 and beyond. It’s unknown whether CFP leaders will let one edition of the 12-team field play out or select a format in the upcoming months. CFP and ESPN leaders are expecting the 12-team field

this fall to produce a lot more interest amongst fans than in the past.”We securely believe this fall is going to be an exciting time for college football fans,” Dawson stated.” The ideal balance in between access and still catching the best teams in the country I think has actually been attained here, and we’re excited to roll it out this fall.”The CFP has actually contributed to the most-watched days in ESPN’s almost 45-year history, led by the very first CFP semifinals in 2015 boosting ESPN to 11.6 million average viewers for New Year’s Day. The CFP semifinals in 2018, 2022 and 2024 anchored ESPN in completing the top four complete-day audiences in network history. College football on ESPN accounts for the leading 15 and more than 50 of the leading 100 most-watched cable programs on record(since 1987), with eight of the leading 10 straight from CFP semifinals or national title games.In 2023-24, ESPN’s extensive

protection of the CFP delivered a record year. The three-game CFP scored its most-watched matches in 6 years (given that Year 4)and was 3rd best of the CFP age with 23.6 million audiences and 15% year-over-year audience growth across the trio of games. The CFP National Championship and New Year’s Six balanced 15.1 million viewers, the best audience in five years and fifth greatest in the previous decade of the CFP.The arrangement with the CFP marks ESPN’s second substantial college sports media rights extension in 2024, following the eight-year deal with the NCAA in January that includes exclusive rights to 40 NCAA championship occasions. ESPN now boasts the exclusive domestic rights to every significant college championship outside of guys’s basketball and global rights to all significant college championships.”This brand-new arrangement solidifies the

broadcast future of the College Football Playoff for several years to come,”said Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, chairman of the CFP board of managers. “ESPN has been an essential piece of the overwhelming success of the playoff during these very first ten years. The addition of ABC to this broadened relationship is simply the next step in the continued growth of one of the top sporting events of the year.”