The ESPN college football broadcast camera before the All State Sugar Bowl playoff game between the Texas Longhorns and the Washington Huskies on Monday, January 1, 2024 at Caesars Superdome in Up-to-date Orleans, LA.
Nick Tre. Smith | Sportswire icon | Getty Images
Wanting to strengthen its sports offer, Warner Bros. Discovery signed a five-year sublicense agreement with the company Disney ESPN will broadcast first-round and quarterfinal games of the College Football Playoff.
TNT owned by Warner Bros. Discovery will host two first-round games this year and next, and will add two additional quarterfinal games starting in 2026. Disney also has the option to give Warner Bros. Discovery will sub-license the semi-final game starting in its third year, according to people familiar with the matter, if it so chooses.
Disney will retain exclusivity for the championship throughout the life of the deal, which runs through 2031, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are confidential. Disney pays approximately $1.3 billion annually for the rights to the entire College Football Playoff.
The up-to-date 12-team College Football Playoff will debut in December, replacing a four-team tournament that began in 2014. In the up-to-date format, the top four teams have a bye while the teams seeded 5th through 12th play their first-round matches at the higher-ranked team’s home stadium.
ESPN will produce games and primarily exploit ESPN talent for broadcasts that will be branded as TNT, people familiar with the matter said. As part of the Warner Bros. sublicense agreement. Discovery pays ESPN an average of “hundreds of millions” a year for games over five years, though less in years one and two, when it releases only two games a year. people said.
Warner Bros. Discovery has exclusive rights to sublicense the games for the duration of the agreement.
“The addition of TNT Sports, another highly respected broadcaster, to the College Football Playoff family is invigorating,” Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, said in a statement. “Sports fans across the country are familiar with their work over the past two decades in a variety of sports venues, and we look forward to seeing what up-to-date and novel ideas they bring to the promotion and delivery of these games.”
The first round of the CFP this year will take place on December 20 and 21.
CFP in, NBA out?
Warner Bros. Discovery plans to add these games to the Max sports tier. The company is increasing interest in live sports as it is in challenging negotiations with the National Basketball Association for a package of live games.
TNT has been an NBA partner for almost 40 years, but it risks losing games Comcast-owner of NBCUniversal and Amazon if Warner Bros. Discovery chooses to waive its rights to them or, potentially, if the league chooses to ignore those rights.
College football is one of the most popular programs on television. Michigan State’s semifinal win over Alabama last year averaged 27.2 million viewers – the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since 2018.
Even if Warner Bros. Discovery will lose NBA, will now have both CFP and NBA through mid-2025, in addition to several weeks of games for the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament, men’s and women’s tournaments football, NASCAR, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League. This should lend a hand the company fulfill upcoming carrier renewal deals for TNT and other cable networks.
Sublicensing of ESPN to Warner Bros. Discovery also allows you to maintain all CFP games Venu Sportsup-to-date sports streaming service being developed by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, which is scheduled to launch in the fall.
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC’s parent company, NBCUniversal.
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