As USC and UCLA leave the Pac 12 for the Big Ten, Sports Business Journal is reporting Apple has re-engaged the Big Ten is negotiations over media rights.
The Big Ten’s deadline to secure a new media rights deal has been put on hold. According to the report, negotiations will extend into August and may be completed after Labor Day.
The conference was expected to be the first college conference to eclipse $1 billion in media-rights fees annually — and that was before USC and UCLA said they would join. The Big Ten presidents officially voted to add the two schools Thursday.
“Fox Sports already had reached a deal to carry at least half of the conference’s package, and CBS was viewed as a front-runner to take at least a package of Saturday football games in the 2:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. ET) window. That left Amazon, ESPN and NBC competing for a third package. As late as this morning, Apple and Warner Bros. Discovery were not viewed as credible bidders. That could all change.”
The Big Ten voted Thursday to add the schools as conference members beginning in 2024.
The expansion to 16 teams will happen after the Pac-12′s current media rights contracts with Fox and ESPN expire and make the Big Ten the first conference to stretch from coast to coast.
The announcement came almost a year after Oklahoma and Texas formally accepted invitations to join the SEC in July 2025.
Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim.
