After Decade Apart, ESPN and Big East Rekindle Media Rights Relationship

After a split more than a decade ago, the Big East and ESPN have finally renewed their historic relationship.

On Tuesday, ESPN announced it had signed a deal to broadcast hundreds of Big East events, including men’s and women’s basketball, in a new six-year deal beginning in 2025–26.

“We’re pleased to welcome the Big East back to ESPN,” Nick Dawson, ESPN SVP of programming and acquisitions said in a statement. “This agreement returns one of the country’s premier conferences and its tradition of excellence to ESPN platforms, and continues to strengthen the college offering on our industry leading direct-to-consumer streaming services. We look forward to this new chapter in our relationship with the Big East.”

In 1980, the Big East signed its first-ever media deal with ESPN—a relationship that continued for more than three decades. In 2013, however, the Big East was pulled apart due to a seismic wave of conference realignment driven by FBS football. The league’s “Catholic 7” schools, like Georgetown and Villanova, broke off, taking the Big East name with them. The original Big East turned into the AAC—and ESPN stuck with them, while opting not to sign a contract with the new Big East.

Since the relationship between ESPN and the Big East ended, fans have critiqued the network for treating the Big East like it had gone extinct. In 2014, for example, ESPN published a 30 for 30 called Requiem for the Big East. Some accused the network of glossing over the conference’s successes and inadequate promotion of games in their basketball schedules. (Even on Tuesday, Big East fans took to X to reference the hard feelings between the conference’s followers and the network.)

But the league plodded ahead without ESPN. In 2014, it signed a media-rights deal with Fox Sports, which was looking for programming for its new channel, FS1, and with CBS. In 2019, it announced it would welcome UConn back into the fold. Throughout the last decade, the conference has picked up several men’s and women’s basketball championships. And this past year, the Big East signed a new package renewing its relationship with Fox and adding TNT and NBC to its ranks. 

Now, it will add ESPN back—if only as a partner for streaming. 

The deal guarantees that ESPN+ will broadcast 25 non-conference men’s basketball games, 75 women’s basketball games and 200 Olympic sports events annually. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Of the deal, commissioner Val Ackerman said: “Streaming on ESPN+ gives all 22 of our sports—especially women’s basketball and Olympic sports—the visibility they’ve earned and the access our fans expect.”