ESPN Agrees to New College Football Playoff Deal, Expanding Television Rights Through 2031-32
After broadcasting the College Football Playoff since its inception in 2015, ESPN is making sure that the preeminent college football broadcast is not going anywhere.
The Worldwide Leader in Sports and the College Football Playoff have agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that will ensure that ESPN remains the home of the College Football Playoff through the 2031-32 season.
Photo: ESPN
With the College Football Playoff set to expand both next season and then again in the 2024-25 season, ESPN was already getting more games than ever before. By the end of the current deal, ESPN will have the rights to four first-round games, the New Year’s Six Bowls (the quarterfinals and semifinals), and the CFP National Championship.
The New Deal Will Give ESPN Even More Games
With today’s agreement, beginning in the 2026-2027 season, the network will have exclusive rights to all rounds of the expanded playoff format. That deal will cost the network $1.3 billion annually.
Additionally, ESPN will continue to get exclusive rights to all programming connected to the College Football Playoff, including the CFP Selection Show and weekly Top 25 ranking show.
Photo: ESPN
“ESPN has worked very closely with the College Football Playoff over the past decade to build one of the most prominent events in American sports,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “We look forward to enhancing our valued relationship over the next two years, and then continuing it for six more as we embark on this new, expanded playoff era.”
“This agreement further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football, as well as the destination for the vast majority of major college championships for the next eight years,” he continued.
Image Credit: Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports
While the price for the new broadcasting rights was certainly hefty, ESPN believes the increase in games is certainly worth the cost.
“We feel really good about the value of what we’re getting in exchange for the financials being paid,” said Nick Dawson, ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming & acquisitions. “We firmly believe the event is going to be better, starting this fall at 12 teams, just in terms of how it’s going to captivate the country.”
The New Contract Allows Disney To Put the Games on Streaming
Interestingly, while ABC and ESPN will be the “primary vehicles moving forward with the deal,” the new contract allows Disney to simulcast or MegaCast the games across all of its platforms, including streaming.
Photo: ESPN
“There is a right and flexibility to do early-round games on direct-to-consumer streaming services, but as of now, no decision has been made on our side to even activate that right,” Dawson said. “A lot of this is future-proofing where the world goes over essentially eight years, and we feel really good about the flexibility we have, but in the near term, I don’t think fans would expect to see much difference in terms of how the games are distributed broadly across traditional linear television.”
Today’s deal was agreed to in principle last month but could not be finalized until the expanded College Football Playoff was approved by the conferences. With that hurdle crossed, the future of college football is secure on ESPN.
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