ESPN Flexes Its Muscles With An Exclusive $7.8 Billion Deal For The College Football Playoff

Premium sports rights matter more now than ever before

ESPN is still the world’s most powerful sports media organization — by a mile — and it flexed its muscles yesterday. The Athletic is reporting that ESPN and the College Football Playoff (CFP) are in agreement on a six-year, $7.8 billion extension for the network to retain all CFP broadcast rights through the 2031-2032 season.

This agreement still needs to be voted on by commissioners and presidents, but it would make ESPN the home for every game of the new CFP 12-team tournament. And more importantly, it further signifies ESPN’s long-term commitment to college sports, hurting rivals like Fox Sports, CBS, NBC, and Warner Bros. in the process.

Many of you probably saw reports several months ago indicating that rights for the expanded College Football Playoff could reach $2.2 billion annually. These reports also mentioned that the CFP was looking to spread its championship game rights among several broadcasters, replicating an NFL-style model that rotates the Super Bowl between competing networks each year, ultimately driving the price higher.

Maybe that was College Football Playoff executives trying to drum up demand or simply sources within the industry being overconfident in the media market. But these reports now appear inaccurate, and I’m not sure they were ever realistic.