Fox and ESPN reluctant to Big 12 expansion plans

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby addresses attendees during Big 12 media day, Monday, July 18, 2016, in Dallas. With expansion still an unsettled issue for the Big 12 Conference, Commissioner Bowlsby gave his annual state of the league address to open football media days. And a day later he meets with the league’s board of directors. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

 

The Big 12 is set to make more money from its television contracts if it adds more teams. The financial aspect is the biggest reason the conference is looking to expand from 10 to 12 or even 14 teams.

However, the networks that pay those television contracts aren’t exactly excited to shill out the extra money to the Big 12. According to Sports Business Journal, Fox and ESPN “are digging in their heels against paying those kind of increases based on expansion with schools outside the Power Five.”

The original deals pay $2.6 billion over 13 years, or about $20 million per school annually. Expansion by two schools, theoretically, would force ESPN and Fox combined to pay an additional $40 million per year in rights fees. Expansion by four teams could mean another $80 million per year.

The most commonly mentioned Big 12 expansion candidates are Houston and Cincinnati while BYU, Memphis, Colorado State, Central Florida, UConn and others have also been mentioned. Conspicuously absent are any schools currently in Power Five conferences.

And for good reason. The Big 12 is expanding to keep up with the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC. There’s no financial incentive for a team from one of those four conferences to move to the Big 12. And it’s no secret that teams already in Power Five conferences are bigger draws than ones that aren’t.

American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco said last week his league has been bracing for the loss of members to the Big 12. The Big 12 is reportedly wanting to have new members in place for the 2017 football season when it brings back a conference championship game. A conference title game is much more palatable with 12 or 14 members than with 10 teams who have already played each other once before the title game.

The Big 12’s plans to “evaluate” expansion proceedings came a day after news broke the ACC would be launching its own television network. The ACC’s move leaves the Big 12 as the only Power Five conference without its own network. And given the existence of the Longhorn Network, the Big 12 isn’t going to be adding its own network anytime soon.

The Big 12’s agreement with ESPN and Fox expires in 2025. While it’s understandable the two networks would be reluctant to shill out significant cash to the Big 12 right now, there may also be another factor at play as well. The SBJ piece notes that Fox and ESPN didn’t cut the Big 12’s contract money to 10 teams when the conference lost two teams during the expansion craziness of 2010 and 2011.