This fall, Big Ten Saturdays are going to feel a lot like NFL Sundays.

The conference is beginning its seven-year, $7 billion media deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC — and each will take an NFL-inspired approach to broadcasting its games. 

Fox and CBS will largely air marquee games in the afternoons, leading into a primetime matchup on NBC. This weekend includes Utah State-Iowa at noon ET on FS1, Ohio State-Indiana at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS, and West Virginia-Penn State at 7:30 p.m. on NBC.

“It will look exactly like the NFL looks every week,” NBC Sports President of Acquisitions and Partnerships Jon Miller told Front Office Sports. “Where you see on ‘Sunday Night Football’ we’re promoting … the lineup of games the following week. And then those partners will do the same.”

Miller says he came up with the idea for a “Big Ten Saturday Night” package back in 2015 but couldn’t truly explore the concept until Kevin Warren became the conference’s commissioner in 2020. 

The two men had a longstanding relationship from Warren’s days as an NFL team executive, which proved to be pivotal when the Big Ten started negotiating its next media deals. This year, Warren left the Big Ten to return to the NFL and become president of the Chicago Bears.

Double-Dipping

For CBS, 2023 is a transition year as it completes its final SEC season while introducing Big Ten coverage. The network has seven Big Ten games this season and 13 SEC games before the latter conference begins an exclusive deal with ESPN in 2024.

“Our expectations are high,” CBS Sports executive vice president of programming Dan Weinberg told FOS of the long-term potential with the Big Ten.

And while the network is concluding its 26-year run with the SEC, don’t expect any bad blood from CBS. “You’ll see promotion for the Big Ten, you’ll see promotion for the SEC in the same way that we’ve been doing it,” Weinberg explained.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s long-term NBA future may be newly uncertain, but in the meantime the two-time MVP continues to expand his business empire.

The Milwaukee Bucks star recently told the New York Times he doesn’t “want to be 20 years on the same [team]” without winning another championship, sparking a frenzy of potential trade talk. But amid the speculation, Antetokounmpo made another off-court investment by acquiring a stake in Los Angeles Golf Club this week.

LAGC — which also counts as co-owners tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams and Serena’s husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian — was the first announced team in TGL, the startup golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that will begin play in January.

Expanding Sports Portfolio

For Antetokounmpo, the investments add to a burgeoning portfolio that also includes equity stakes in MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers, MLS’ Nashville FC, and a partnership with global investment firm Calamos Investments. With his brothers, Antetokounmpo recently formed Ante, Inc. to house their various investments and business relationships on which he serves as co-founder and chair.

Giannis’ activity, similar to that of other NBA superstars such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant, reflects a heightened interest in business investments over the past three years. 

“From 2020 to 2023, people think I’ve taken a large jump on the basketball court, but I think I’ve taken [a] 10X jump off the court,” Antetokounmpo said to the Times.

Antetokounmpo is under contract for the next two seasons with a player option for 2025-26. He will be eligible to sign a three-year, $173 million extension with the Bucks beginning Sept. 22 but has signaled he won’t — at least not yet.

Cricket has little need to prove its value as India’s most popular sport — and now, one media company with loose American ties is shelling out nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars to broadcast key games. 

Viacom18 — of which Paramount Global owns a 13% stake via a subsidiary — has agreed to pay $721 million for the rights to broadcast India’s domestic cricket matches through March 2028. 

The deal includes 88 matches in total, making the rights to each one worth more than $8 million.

Other bidders for the package included subsidiaries of Disney and Sony. The Board of Control for Cricket in India had reportedly tried in vain to get tech giants like Amazon and Alphabet — Google’s parent company — to bid on the rights.

This latest deal marks the continued emphasis on cricket from Viacom18, which is majority-owned by Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, who also owns the most valuable franchise in India, per Forbes — the $1.3 billion Mumbai Indians. 

Last year, the company paid $3 billion for digital rights to the Indian Premier League cricket championship, and earlier this year it spent $116 million on media rights for the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League seasons from 2023-27.

Disney Star owns the Indian broadcast rights to the Cricket World Cup and the TV rights to the aforementioned IPL, but Disney could be exploring a sale of its Indian operations.

Luton Town FC is still looking for its first points in the Premier League — a feat it hopes to accomplish on Friday when it hosts its first league game at Kenilworth Road since being promoted to England’s top league for the first time in 31 years.

The match between West Ham United and Luton Town will air on USA Network at 3 p.m. ET, kicking off this weekend’s slate of EPL games.

Over the summer, Luton had to install about $16 million worth of upgrades to its 10,000-seat stadium in order to bring the 118-year-old venue up to EPL standards. That included a new main concourse, media center, entry stairwell, and ticket office.

In 2022, Luton’s revenue was about $21 million, and the club lost about $7 million. That won’t be the case this season, no matter where they end up in the table.

Luton will earn at least $100 million from EPL media rights distributions alone — and potentially more depending on how many home games it ends up playing in major TV windows. Those revenues will go a long way toward the club’s plans for a new, 20,000-seat stadium planned for 2026, a project that could cost more than $125 million.

But this season, the focus is on Kenilworth Road, which will welcome the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea. Along the way, the top priority for Luton will be staying out of the bottom three, and keeping its coveted, lucrative spot in the Premier League.