RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. (AP) — As momentum builds behind the Big Ten’s idea of doubling the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, one critical question remains: Who wants to televise it?Fox has indicated it likes the 24-team idea, but embedded within that equation is the critical calculation of how much that network, or any broadcast partner, would pay for a new set of games involving second-tier teams that might not garner the same TV ratings as some of the biggest programs in the sport.“The answer is ‘less,’ but not nothing,’” said Ed Desser, a former NBA executive and media rights expert who co-authored a paper about the value of college football on TV with former ESPN executive John Kosner. “There will be perceived value. It becomes a question of, on the margin, can you create good, meaningful games that enhance the value of the playoff? Or are you just kind of making people wait longer for the entree, for the game they really want?”
The CFP deal that starts this season with ESPN is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons. That network would have first dibs on the first two games added to any package. The rest are up for grabs.
“I want to see whoever is committed to making it work,” Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti said this week when asked which TV partner he’d like to see jump in. “I think it’s about whoever has the commitment to scheduling it right and who’s going to bring the right resources.”
