Next year’s Big Ten football championship game, already a point of tension in the conference’s media rights deals, could be moving away from NBC. NBCUniversal has reportedly held discussions to sublicense the game to both Netflix and Amazon, according to John Ourand of Puck.
Netflix was reportedly uninterested, while talks with Amazon remain in the early stages.
Any attempt to sublicense the game would need approval from both the Big Ten and FOX Sports, the report says. As ESPN reported in 2023, FOX owns all Big Ten programming rights through its ownership of the Big Ten Network. It remains unclear how NBC could sublicense a game it only possesses via a de facto sublicensing arrangement with FOX.
Ourand believes that any sort of sublicense would have to get FOX’s blessing. The report believes the network could “bristle at the idea that one of their network partners would try to cherry-pick a game to sell elsewhere,” especially to a competitor like Netflix or Amazon.
The 2026 Big Ten title game is the only one NBC carries during its seven-year Big Ten deal. That arrangement traces back to former Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren, who awarded NBC the rights without FOX’s permission. The move reportedly cost the conference $40 million in compensation to FOX.
NBC initially secured Big Ten rights because the conference valued broadcast television’s reach over a streaming-exclusive platform like Amazon. Now, NBC is potentially looking to sell a game that contractually belongs to FOX, which it was given without authorization, to a streamer the conference initially bypassed.
The landscape has shifted since the Big Ten media rights deal was negotiated.
The report Thursday underscores ongoing challenges with the Big Ten’s fragmented media strategy. With games spread across up to three networks, the conference lacks the cohesive promotional platform enjoyed by the SEC on ESPN/ABC. Sublicensing is common in college sports. The Big 12, for instance, has sublicensing deals that allow games to air on TNT Sports, CBS Sports, and NBC’s Peacock, despite having only two primary rights holders in ESPN and FOX.
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