Competitive media deal has to be priority for new Big 12 commissioner, K-State AD says
The new Big 12 Conference commissioner will face two big tasks, Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor says. But one should take priority.
“Sitting down with the television partners ... and negotiating a good deal for us,” Taylor said during a Catbackers Tour stop at Children’s Mercy Park this week.
The Big 12’s television contracts expire after the 2024-25 season and the conference will have a different look going forward.
Oklahoma and Texas will depart for the SEC. By then, Houston, Brigham Young, Cincinnati and Central Florida are expected to have spent two years in the Big 12. At least, that’s the working timetable.
Integrating those schools and crafting schedules for a conference that could change its membership numbers three times in four years is the other big job of the new commissioner.
But getting the best media rights deal possible is paramount.
The Big 12 could to lose media value on the change, industry analysts have said. Outgoing commissioner Bob Bowlsby has said the Sooners and Longhorns are worth about half of the league’s revenue from deals with ESPN and Fox.
On the plus side for the revamped Big 12: More inventory and Brigham Young’s national following. Also, with the Cougars in the Mountain Time Zone, the league could have four kickoff windows for games when BYU plays at home, starting at 11 a.m.
The Big Ten is expected to be the next conference to announce a new TV deal. It could happen in the next few weeks and is expected to be worth about $1 billion per season, according to Sports Business Journal.. That would average to about $71 million per school annually.
SEC schools also are about to get richer. Staring in 2024, the league begins a new, $3 billion, 10-year deal with ESPN.
Big 12 payouts for 2020-21 were about $35 million per school. The league’s current deal with ESPN and Fox, worth $2.6 billion over 13 years, began in 2012-13 in the wake of the first Big 12 realignment period.
Navigate, a sports market research company, estimates that by 2029, annual average payouts to Big Ten and SEC schools will be over or approaching $100 million with Big 12, SEC and Pac-12 schools in the $51-56 million range.
“We have to be in the game,” Taylor said. “That’s number one in the transition.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 9:50 AM.