FOX Sports continues as lead partner in Big East's new 6-year rights deal
The Big East Conference announced a new six-year media rights agreement on Thursday, and FOX Sports — the conference's main television partner for the last 11 years — will continue as the lead network provider, with NBC Sports and TNT Sports also providing coverage for the first time.
The agreement, which was unanimously approved by the 11 schools, will span from 2025-26 through 2030-31 and encompasses coverage on FOX Sports (FOX, FS1, FS2), NBC Sports (NBC, Peacock) and TNT Sports (TNT, TBS, truTV and Max). The Big East's current 12-year deal with FOX is set to expire after the 2024-25 academic year.
The Big East is already considered one of the nation's premier basketball conferences with two-time defending men's champion UConn among its 11 members. UConn also returned to the Women's Final Four this past season.
"Everyone at FOX Sports is thrilled to continue our long-standing relationship with the Big East, one of the nation’s top basketball conferences and a pillar of our college hoops lineup," said Eric Shanks, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer of FOX Sports. "It’s a privilege to showcase these spectacular student-athletes and institutions alongside our new partners, NBC Sports and TNT Sports, while also fortifying our role as a leader in college sports."
The agreement will provide major national broadcast, cable and direct-to-consumer streaming coverage of Big East men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as Olympic championship contests. More than 150 regular-season men's games will be distributed on the networks’ various platforms, including all league contests and all Big East Tournament games.
Women’s basketball coverage will be enhanced significantly under the new deal, with the networks at least tripling the current contractual commitment under the current agreement.
FOX Sports will feature at least 80 Big East men’s and women’s basketball contests across the regular season and postseason beginning in 2025-26. In addition, FOX will remain the home of the men’s tournament final through 2031.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
