Big Ten Signs TV Contract for $1B a Year

The Big Ten Conference has reached a seven-year contract for television rights for an average of at least $1 billion a year, The New York Times reported. This is the first time a college conference has secured a deal of that size.

The conference made a deal with Fox for many of the key games. But the Big Ten also signed deals with CBS and NBC. ESPN, which has had a long relationship with the Big Ten, is not in the new deal.

Less than 20 years ago, Big Ten universities were splitting less than $200 million in media rights money annually when adjusted for inflation, according to a database run by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and Syracuse University.