The Big 12 Conference, ABC/ESPN and Fox will announce a 13-year media rights deal Friday worth $2.6 billion, an average of $200 million per year and worth $20 million per school, industry sources told ESPN.
The Big 12's board of directors will formally vote on the new deal Friday morning, when they're expected to approve the package that will run through the 2024-25 school year.
ABC/ESPN and Fox will share the league's football inventory, while ABC/ESPN will be the exclusive provider for Big 12 men's basketball.
The new deal includes grant of rights, meaning if a Big 12 school leaves for another league in the next 13 years, that school's media rights, including revenue, would remain with the Big 12 and not their new conference.
When asked about the deal, ESPN had no comment.
The "grant of rights" agreement is huge for the Big 12's future stability. Just last year, it appeared the league would implode by losing Texas and Oklahoma to the Pac-12. However, both schools stayed. The Big 12 did lose Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, but replaced them this season with West Virginia and TCU.
The Big 12's $20 million per school average is slightly behind the Pac-12's $21 million per school media rights deal and on par with the Big Ten's per school average. The Big 12's new deal also will rank ahead of the SEC and ACC's per school averages -- at least for now. The SEC is expected to have a more lucrative deal in the coming months.
The Big 12's new deal means the Big 12 and Pac-12 are the only two conferences with telecast agreements with two over-the-air national networks in ABC and Fox.
The Big 12 joins the Big Ten and Pac-12 as the only conferences with "grant of rights" media deals.
