The Big 12’s media rights contract with ESPN and Fox doesn’t expire until after the 2024-25 academic year, but the conference is reportedly already close to a new deal.

An agreement with the broadcasters could be in place “within a matter of weeks,” according to a CBS Sports report.

The current deal contributes an annual $43 million to each school in the conference, including revenue from NCAA basketball tournaments and bowl games. Despite Texas and Oklahoma leaving for the SEC in 2025, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said the new deal could surpass the current figure because he’s “a good salesman.”

• Former commissioner Bob Bowlsby claimed the loss of the schools would decrease the conference’s value by 50%.
• Yormark cited higher ticket prices for the Big 12 tournament as a way to boost revenue.
• The Big 12 is adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF in 2025.

Conference Colleagues

Securing a deal now could put the Big 12 in more favorable broadcasting windows than the Pac-12, which is currently on the open market. Its deal expires in 2024.

But the numbers for either of the conferences’ media rights are still likely to lag behind the Big Ten when its new deal with NBC, Fox, and CBS — expected to pay out $75 million-$80 million annually per school —  begins in 2023.

If a deal isn’t made soon, “there is the option to wait 16 months” for the formal negotiating window to begin, Yormark said.

The Rams’ move from St. Louis to Los Angeles is going to cost every team in the league.

NFL owners unanimously supported a plan in which Rams owner Stan Kroenke covers most of the bill but is partly repaid over the next three decades, according to Sports Business Journal.

• The total charge comes to around $820 million — $790 million for a settlement with the city of St. Louis and $30 million in legal fees.
• The other 31 owners have already chipped in $220 million after the league gave each team around $7 million from national revenue payouts.
• Kroenke owes the league $320 million in March and an additional $283 million in five years. He’ll be able to recover the second payment over 30 years by hanging onto revenue from home games normally shared with the visiting team.

Executives

| by Owen Poindexter

NFL Owners To Seek $571M from Rams Owner

NFL owners are reportedly voting that Stan Kroenke must pay $571 million.

October 18, 2022

The repayment will be through the league’s G4 financing program, which is also being employed by the Buffalo Bills for their new stadium. The Rams will not be able to use the funds for stadium upgrades while they are still claiming repayments.

SoFinancing

The arrangement allows Kroenke to leverage his massive investment in the Rams’ (and Chargers’) SoFi Stadium, which he privately financed to the reported tune of $5 billion.

The stadium is the NFL’s largest venue.

As European rivals continue to benefit from massive media rights deals, Italy’s top soccer league is looking for a bigger piece of the pie.

Serie A has taken steps to improve its overseas reach, opening a base in New York and planning for offices in London and Abu Dhabi — and now the league wants to triple its international media rights revenue by 2030.

• Serie A is set to make $658 million from international media rights between 2021 and 2024.
• Between 2022-25, the Premier League will pocket $6.55 billion for overseas rights.
• Spain’s La Liga is in the second season of an eight-year, $1.4 billion rights deal with ESPN.

Serie A — which generated $2.4 billion in revenue during the 2020-21 season, per Deloitte — is also looking to spin off an upcoming media unit to boost revenue after failing to sell a 10% stake worth $2 billion to three investors in 2021. On Friday, the league began the formal process of creating the media unit, which is expected to attract several private equity firms.

The league had previously looked to secure a deal with CVC Capital Partners, Advent International, and Italy’s FSI fund. It is unclear whether those investors will try again.

Foreign Owners

In May, New York-based private investment firm RedBird Capital Partners finalized a deal to purchase AC Milan, valuing the Serie A club at $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Deals

| by Justin Byers

RedBird Capital Agrees to Buy AC Milan, Valued at $1.3B

RedBird Capital Partners has reportedly finalized a deal to purchase AC Milan,…

May 31, 2022

AC Milan is one of nine Serie A clubs currently in business with North American investors.

The legal battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has escalated. 

The PGA Tour has filed a petition for discovery against Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to Front Office Sports that the target of the filing is PIF governor Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, though his name was not listed in the petition filed under seal in federal court.

The petition, sources told FOS, is part of the PGA Tour’s effort to depose Al-Rumayyan in response to the antitrust lawsuit filed against the PGA Tour in August.

Later that month, LIV joined the group of players — which included Phil Mickelson — filing the suit, citing that PGA golfers are “independent contractors but are denied independence.” 

• Mickelson, along with LIV golfers Pat Perez, Abraham Ancer, and others would eventually drop from the suit.
• They said that LIV’s newfound involvement deemed their participation unnecessary.

In September, the PGA Tour filed a countersuit against LIV. 

Another Battle

The Official World Golf Ranking recently declared that players in LIV tournaments won’t be awarded ranking points after the series’ alliance with the MENA Tour.

Global Sport

| by Abigail Gentrup

LIV Golf Won’t Get World Golf Ranking Points

The MENA Tour submitted fields for LIV Golf’s next two tournaments.

October 7, 2022

The OWGR claimed the MENA Tour didn’t give sufficient notice of changes to its membership structure.