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SEC and Big Ten football consider high-revenue schedule deal

SEC and Big Ten football consider high-revenue schedule deal

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The SEC and Big Ten are discussing a possible scheduling agreement that could result in a significant increase in media rights revenue and further distance the two superconferences from the rest of college football, four people with knowledge of the discussions told USA TODAY.

The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the two superconferences could play each other in as many as 12 to 16 regular-season nonconference games per year – or more – to determine the extent of the increase in revenue Media rights.

The potential schedule agreement is a response to the billions in revenue lost to former players as a result of the House litigation settlement of more than $2 billion, and future revenue sharing with players of at least $20 million to $23 million US dollars per year starting from the 2025 season.

An industry source familiar with the process pointed out that the only way to maximize revenue is to offer an increased number of quality non-conference games over a period of time – something that can be negotiated and contracted .

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The SEC and Big Ten played three nonconference games this season — Southern California vs. LSU, Alabama vs. Wisconsin and Texas vs. Michigan — and all three ranked in the top 10 in total viewership in the first month of the season. But three games per season does not change the financial agreements the two conferences have with television partners ABC/ESPN (SEC) and Fox, CBS and NBC (Big Ten).

Double-digit games that can be promoted and sold as stand-alone events — like the annual Big Ten vs. ACC basketball challenge — and bring in unique advertising dollars are attractive to broadcast partners.

There are still numerous hurdles to overcome – including schedule structure, format of pairing games and revenue distribution – but leaders in both conferences see the potential deal as a response to college football’s rapidly changing financial landscape.

Another possible source of revenue is private equity, but SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said last Thursday that was not an option.

College sports’ two most powerful men, along with athletics directors and other conference leaders, met in Nashville last week to underscore a process that has gained momentum since the SEC and Big Ten announced in February that they would work together as an “advisory group.” to navigate college sports through a turbulent time of financial and operational uncertainty.

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How much new revenue could a deal bring?

The House agreement and projected future shared revenue with players requires a desperate search for new — what one person described as “clean revenue.”

How much new sales?

Enough not to miss a new source of income, said another industry representative.

But what seems like a simple compromise is not without special circumstances: How many conference games will the SEC and Big Ten play (eight or nine) and how many of the 34 total teams will be available for the proposed games?

Equally important, how will revenue be shared, and if conferences pool non-conference games, are there benefits along the way to pooling media rights revenue and achieving even greater financial stability?

Could the Big Ten and SEC eventually join forces for a major rights deal across all networks, rather than striking separate deals for each conference?

A Big Ten athletics director told USA TODAY Sports that everything is on the table.

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How the Big Ten and SEC could change football schedules

The process begins and ends with structure. The Big Ten currently plays nine conference games and the SEC plays eight.

If the SEC increases to nine, a corresponding move could mean up to 12 new non-conference games between the leagues. If both move to eight conference games, there’s a chance it could be up to 20 or more.

Four schools in the SEC (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky) are hosting games against in-state rivals from the ACC that they want to protect, and Southern California (Notre Dame), Oregon (Oregon State) and Washington (Washington State) have also protected Non-conference rivalries.

These seven schools do not want a future nine-game conference schedule that includes a non-conference game against current rivals and another game from the new schedule agreement. Such a change would mean that everyone would only have one flexible, profitable home game on the 12-game schedule.

Four of those schools (Florida, Georgia, USC, Oregon) are big TV draws and are critical to any non-conference game offering to media rights partners.

“We had a pretty extensive discussion about how we can play against each other more,” Petitti said after Thursday’s meeting. “See if you can figure out how to actually do it. Decide which games you want and how many, but that’s a broad discussion.”

This also happens in an environment that clearly favors the two super conferences. Both have withdrawn financially from the rest of the FBS conferences and would move even further away with a non-conference schedule.

But the last thing the Big Ten and SEC want is the optics of collusion. It’s no coincidence that both brought legal teams to last week’s meetings to avoid these potential problems.

“Is there a way for us to be intentional about our scheduling?” said Sankey, who was in Ann Arbor last month when Texas played Michigan, and the moment was not lost. “Just an incredible experience. You stand on the sideline before kickoff and think, ‘What if we could do more of that with our non-conference games?'”

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X @MattHayesCFB.