Bowl games will only increase in value with help from the College Football Playoff.
The CFP will expand from four to 12 teams in 2024, and the increase could reportedly generate at least $450 million in gross revenue over the final two years of the competition’s current media deal.
- The CFP currently has an exclusive deal with ESPN that runs through 2026 and pays an average of $470 million per year.
- The expanded playoff could command as much as $2.2 billion per year — more than double the current payout.
- It would surpass the Big Ten’s current media rights deal with FOX, CBS, NBC, and NBC’s Peacock, which averages more than $1 billion a year.
Bowl games outside the CFP are expected to increase in value as competition to acquire media rights heats up, leading to a potential multiple-network deal to broadcast college football’s top teams. As of 2022, there are 41 postseason bowl games.
Power 5 conferences make $670 million per year from their New Year’s Six bowl games, including the three CFP games. An expanded 12-team playoff could make $1.9 billion per year.
Slight Delay
The Pac-12 won’t have a new media rights deal before the end of the year after starting negotiations in the summer. The conference is in the midst of a 12-year, $3 billion deal that expires in 2024. It had delayed talks while UCLA faced a decision on its transition to the Big Ten.
Last week, the UC Regents voted to allow UCLA’s move.
