Report: ESPN to pay $345M more a year for 24-team CFP as power conference title games go away
ESPN gets back $140 million a year from three canceled power conference title games, and Fox nearly $60 million for the Big Ten's, per Pete Thamel.
The price tag on a 24-team College Football Playoff is coming into focus, and so is what it would cost the sport's conference title games.
ESPN will pay an average of $345 million more per year over the next five years for the expanded playoff, ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Friday evening, citing sources. That is on top of the average of roughly $1.3 billion a year ESPN is already paying for the CFP over that span.
The net cost to ESPN is smaller. Of the new $345 million, Thamel reported, ESPN will "essentially" be paying $205 million, because it gets back $140 million a year from "the cancelation of the three power conference championship games that ESPN owns the television rights to broadcast."
In a follow-up, Thamel added that Fox, which owns the rights to the Big Ten Championship Game, is expected to get back nearly $60 million a year for that game's cancellation.
What it means for the SEC Championship Game
Thamel did not list the three ESPN-owned games by name. ESPN is the SEC's exclusive television partner and the SEC Championship Game airs on ABC, so the report points to the Atlanta title game being among the games that would go away under the new format. Neither the SEC nor the CFP has announced that.
Earlier Friday, ESPN's Heather Dinich reported the CFP and ESPN have a "handshake deal" on a 24-team playoff starting in 2027, with paperwork and board approvals still to come. (Our earlier story.)
Not everyone is sold. In an X poll from CBS Sports' Brett McMurphy, three of every four votes eight hours in favored keeping the playoff at 12 teams, McMurphy posted Friday.
Why it matters for Florida
Florida last played for an SEC title in 2020. Without a conference championship game, the path to the postseason would run entirely through the regular season, which makes every SEC result on the schedule count more. The Gators' next one is Saturday at No. 7 Texas, at noon ET on ABC.
Sources: Pete Thamel, ESPN; Pete Thamel, ESPN; Pete Thamel, ESPN; Heather Dinich, ESPN; Brett McMurphy; floridagators.com.
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