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REPORT: Big Ten agrees to $2.64 billion media rights deal with ESPN, Fox

Media payouts for member institutions will get a huge increase.

By Jim Vainisi
Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports

According to the Sports Business Journal's John Ourand, the Big Ten Conference has agreed to a 6-year, $1.14 billion media rights deal with ESPN and CBS. Both networks will retain their current portion of broadcasting rights, which totals about 50% of overall coverage. Fox recently agreed to their own 6-year, $1.5 billion arrangement for the other half of the package.

ESPN will be paying about $190 million per year, while CBS will hand over $10 million per season for select basketball games. When you factor in Fox's annual terms, the Big Ten will be raking in approximately $440 million every year -- that totals out to $2.64 billion over the next six years.

Here's what this news means for Illinois and the other member institutions from a coverage standpoint.

The difference between the two packages is that Fox Sports will carry the Big Ten football championship game every season, which is a strong draw each December. Fox also will have game selection advantages over ESPN, which almost certainly means that the coveted Michigan-Ohio State rivalry will move to Fox most years.

Before each season, the networks will pick the weeks where they get first choice of games. Fox will have the first pick every year; ESPN will have the second; Fox will have the third, and so on.

ESPN will carry Big Ten football games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. ESPNU will see far fewer Big Ten games than it has in the past.

This is simply incredible, and it's fantastic news for everyone associated with the Big Ten. The average annual media payout per school will be about $31.4 million per year -- and that doesn't include revenue from the Big Ten Network.

What does this mean for the Big Ten?

MONEY. MONEY. MONEY. MONEY. MONEY. MONEY.

What does this mean for Big Ten student-athletes

STILL NO MONEY. STILL NO MONEY. STILL NO MONEY.

What does this mean for Illinois?

MORE NICE THINGS LIKE LOVIE SMITH.