The Big 12 Conference unveiled a 13-year media rights deal with FOX Sports that’s expected to bring the conference’s schools better than $1 billion over the life of the contract. The Big 12 Conference is the college athletic conference of 12 schools located in the Central US, with member schools in Texas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
In the deal, FOX Sports has purchased the rights to more than 40 football games per season, starting in 2012. Most of the games are expected to air on FOX Sports and FX cable outlets. This deal adds to the 18 games already contracted to land on ABC or ESPN. Every Big 12 home football game will air on ABC and/or ESPN, a FOX affiliate or a school-operated network, such as The Texas’ Longhorn Network. The deals also include the option of up to three Thursday night Big 12 football games, a Sunday game over Labor Day weekend, and a Friday game on Thanksgiving weekend.
SportsBusiness Journal reported its value at about $90 million per year.
