📡 "Not so fast." The ballyhooed B1G TV contract isn't as close to being completed as the media has indicated.

[TerryP]

As a side note, this is one way to put it:

Kevin Warren took over as Big Ten commissioner in January 2020, and in just three years at the helm, he dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic,

Did he now?

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Nearly three months before the season kicks off and those TV deals begin, the Big Ten does not have completed longform contracts, which include the fine print details. Instead, Petitti is engaged in significant "horse trading," according to multiple sources, to get the NBC primetime deal finished and figure out what the network calls "outstanding issues" in order to uphold as much value as possible.​

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"These deals aren't done, and they aren't what they were represented to be from the standpoint of the NBC deal and the availability of all members to participate in November games in primetime," said an industry source.​

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Interviews with nearly a dozen sources in and around the Big Ten and the college sports industry paint a picture of Petitti sprinting to navigate details left unresolved from his predecessor.​

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As a result, there's a trail of unhappy athletic directors seeing money disappearing from their bottom line, frustrated television executives and big-name coaches irked about the lack of transparency in details that weren't communicated to them.​

...​

On campus, it's a bit more muddled. Big Ten schools have seen potential revenue disappear the past few months from a contract that was announced back in August as being worth an average of nearly $1 billion per year through the 2029 football season. More than $70 million in total is suddenly in flux -- nearly $5 million per school -- and it has left administrators around the league seeking answers and calling for financial accountability.​

How an unfinished TV deal led to an unexpectedly hectic first month for the new Big Ten commissioner

New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has been sprinting to finish his league's massive TV deal -- and key athletic directors and coaches aren't happy with the details.

www.espn.com

 

[alabama mike]

I am sure they will get it done before the season starts. Like it or not, right now the B10 brings in a lot of dough.

 

[bamafan9201]

I am sure they will get it done before the season starts. Like it or not, right now the B10 brings in a lot of dough.

I think the point is that the predecessor inflated the numbers to the media/public but the real numbers were less than advertised to the schools and now they're unhappy because what they thought they will be getting they won't be getting anymore unless the TV executives come up on their bottom line, which would be dealing in bad faith. Usually when you deal in bad faith like that it could be cause for termination of the contract.

 

[TerryP]

I think the point is that the predecessor

...among other things like:

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

I gotta be honest. While reading about how Warren was just doing whatever without regard to contracts that already exist I heard Miley Cyrus singing "I came in like a Wrecking Ball" in my brain.

 

[BamaFan334]

This the same guy that put the SEC down as inferior intellectual folks? What a piece of work.

 

[24and7]

Both schools are making a colossal mistake anyway.. If they have to play a bigger and more physical team in the cold cold weather… they will be beaten up and broken down before seasons end…Gone are the easy west coast outings and near perfect seasons… Both Cali schools could be eliminated from contention by mid winter..They better try to expand the Pac12 with some better schools and more games, instead…