Big Ten gets bigger; Fox needs a streamer

IN THIS ISSUE:

  • 🏈 The Big(ger) Ten wants BIG đŸ’”đŸ’”đŸ’”. That’s likely to come with more streaming options.

  • đŸŽŸWimbledon on ESPN+ is an Ace, but big names still require cable

  • 👋 Bye Bye Olympics Channel. More sports to Peacock?

The Main Event: Big Ten gets bigger; Fox needs a streamer

College football made huge news this week when UCLA and USC joined the Big Ten Conference. While there are many causes behind this move, streaming is a major factor in this deal. In fact, it’s much bigger than people realize.

It is no coincidence that the Big Ten made a deal to add two big name schools at the same time that they are negotiating new media rights deals. They were expected to wrap up by Memorial Day, but everything was quiet when that date came and went. Now, we know why.

The Big Ten expects a deal worth up to $1 billion per season. Their current deal is split between Fox and ESPN. Fox Sports is the majority owner of the Big Ten Network, and Sports Business Journal says they already have a deal in place to be a big part of the next deal.

Fox Sports has enough money to take this entire deal. Why isn’t Fox landing the whole Big Ten?

  • Fox can put games on broadcast, FS1, FS2 or the Big Ten Network. That’s not enough to cover every game for a 16 team league week to week.

  • Fox doesn’t have a sports streaming service (or any paid one) to put games on. Without their own version of ESPN+ or Paramount+, they also don’t have the extra revenue stream to draw from.

  • Fox also doesn’t have the infrastructure to create a Big Ten streaming service by the time the new deal starts in 2023. So they can’t include a “Big Ten Plus” subscription similar to recent services from the NFL or MLS.

Now the Big Ten, and presumably Fox Sports, are looking for a second partner with more to offer now that two big west coast teams are on board. 

The Big Ten is sure to prioritize high exposure over streaming exclusively just like F1 did. So bet on ESPN to be the favorite partner with some games on ESPN+. But it’s not a coincidence that Fox, with no sports streaming, needs a partner on this deal and all of the options have streaming ready to go.

If this deal also includes a "Big Ten Plus" premium-type streaming service, the SEC is sure to follow soon after. If only two Mega Conferences survive in the years to come, it will be those two.

Pour one out for the poor PAC-12. They’re negotiating a new media rights deal right now too, but they just lost their two biggest teams in this move.

The Fast Break:

Game On Wimbledon rolls on, and we now have a better idea of how this is working on ESPN+. 

  • Every live match shows up in the ESPN app, and while many are on ESPN+, some of the big name matches show only on ESPN3. 

  • That’s a rough draw for cord cutters, who would need a Live TV streaming service like Sling to watch ESPN3 matches live.

  • We’ll know more as the round of 32 starts this weekend.

🏅Closing Ceremonies? 

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal broke the news that NBC is shutting down the Olympics Channel.

  • This dedicated Olympics Channel has been on cable, satellite, and some live TV streaming services, but it will shut down on September 30.

  • NBC has already shut down NBCSN and moved most of those sports onto Peacock. There was a ton of coverage on Peacock during the Winter Olympics earlier this year. 

  • A dedicated streaming hub or channel on Peacock would make perfect sense.

GOOOOOOOOOOOAL đŸ„…

Amazon Prime has landed the U.K. rights to the UEFA Champions League, which it will split with BT Sport.

  • Amazon is clearly serious about being a major player worldwide in streaming sports. 

  • Expect to see them in the bidding for almost every sport from here on. Keep a close eye on Amazon going in for a piece of the action when NBA rights come up in 2025.

Watch. Learn. Stream.

I Watched:

  • Wimbledon coverage, including the exciting upset where Davidovich Fokina beat Hurkacz, who is ranked #4 in the world. It was a five set match that went to tiebreaker in the final set. You can watch Hurkacz vs. Davidovich Fokina on demand on ESPN+.

  • Boxing, including the thrilling “Bam” Rodriguez vs Sor Rungvisai fight. Bam absolutely rolled, even as Sor Rungvisai brought his A-game.

I Learned:

MLB’s commissioner wants the league to expand to 32 teams. Of all the things the league needs to change, this ain’t it. To be fair, he does discuss making games shorter, using robot umpires, and banning the infield shift. But with so few real stars in baseball right now, thinning talent down sounds like a bad idea.

I’ll Be Streaming: 

  • More Wimbledon tennis coverage, and rooting for upsets.

  • Some LIV Golf Portland just to see if they’ve changed or improved the presentation

The Starting Lineup - July 1 - 7

Select key events shown. All times shown are Eastern. Dates and times are subject to change. (* if necessary)

Tennis:

Wimbledon

  • Middle Weekend: Saturday, July 2 - Sunday, July 3 from 8 am - 1 pm on ESPN+ and ESPN, and 1 pm - 4 pm on ABC

  • Round of 16: Monday July 4 at 8 am on ESPN+, ESPN and ESPN2

  • Quarterfinals: Tuesday, July 5 - Wednesday, July 6 at 8 am on ESPN+, ESPN and ESPN2

  • Ladies Semifinals: Thursday, July 7 at 8 am on ESPN and ESPN+

ESPN and ESPN2 available on Sling TV Orange ($35 / month), YouTube TV ($65 / month), FuboTV ($70 / month), Hulu with Live TV ($70 / month) & DirecTV Stream ($75 / month)

MLB:

Friday July 1 

Texas Rangers vs N.Y. Mets 7 pm on Apple TV+

Los Angeles Angels vs Houston Astros 8 pm on Apple TV+

Sunday July 3

Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers Noon on Peacock

WNBA:

Friday July 1

Indiana vs Seattle 10 pm on Facebook

Sunday July 3 

Las Vegas vs Minnesota 7 pm on Amazon

Tuesday July 5

Connecticut vs Dallas 8 pm on Facebook

Thursday July 7

Seattle vs Los Angeles 10:30 pm on Twitter

Combat Sports

July 2: UFC 276: Adesanya vs. Cannonier & Volkanovski vs. Holloway, Prelims 8 pm on ESPN+ and ESPN2, Main Card 10 pm on ESPN+ Pay-Per-View

Golf

PGA: The John Deere Classic 

Friday July 1 from 7 am - 6 pm on ESPN+

Saturday July 2 from 7 am - 5 pm on ESPN+, Noon to 1:30 pm on Golf Channel, 2 pm on CBS and Paramount+ 

Sunday July 3 from 7 am - 5 pm on ESPN+, Noon to 1:30 pm on Golf Channel, 2 pm on CBS and Paramount+

Golf Channel available on Sling TV Orange ($35 / month), YouTube TV ($65 / month), FuboTV ($70 / month), Hulu with Live TV ($70 / month) & DirecTV Stream ($75 / month)

LIV Golf: Portland 

Friday, July 1 - Saturday, July 2 from 10:15 am - 4 pm on DAZN and LIVGolf.com

Gratitude

Thank you for reading this week’s Streaming Sports Newsletter. It is wonderful to be able to welcome in new subscribers, and I hope you all have enjoyed reading it. If you haven’t joined in yet, please subscribe so you won’t miss an issue. Also, take a moment to share this issue with anyone you think might enjoy it.

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