It was announced Tuesday that ESPN has locked the rights through the 2031-32 season.
ESPN, the exclusive home of CFP since its inception in 2015, plans to expand its current package for the final two years (through the 2025-26 season), adding a new full four first-round games to ESPN's programming each year. is. The rights to the existing New Year's Six (currently quarterfinals and semifinals) and the CFP National Championship with a new 12-team playoff starting this fall.
Additionally, the Disney-owned sports giant signed a new six-year deal for CFP overall worth $7.8 billion, or $1.3 billion annually, according to ESPN. This includes exclusive rights to all rounds of the Expanded Playoffs (first) round, quarterfinals, semifinals, and national championships), as well as all ancillaries related to the playoff series, including the CFP Selection Show and the weekly Top 25 Rankings Show. Program exclusivity also continues.
Under the expanded rights agreement, beginning with the 2026-27 season, the College Football Playoff National Championship game will also be broadcast on ABC, in addition to presentations on ESPN's Megacast cable network. In both the revised two-year agreement and the new six-year extension, CFP gives ESPN the right to sublicense a select number of games.
The deal marks ESPN's second major college sports media rights extension in 2024, following an eight-year, multi-sport, $920 million deal with the NCAA announced in January. Become. This includes exclusive rights to 40 of his NCAA Championship events. ESPN currently claims exclusive domestic rights to all major college championships (excluding men's basketball) and international rights to all major college championships.
“ESPN has worked very closely with the College Football Playoff over the past decade to build one of the most prestigious events in American sports,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “This agreement further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football and the site of the majority of major college championships over the next eight years.”
“We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with ESPN,” added CFP Executive Director Bill Hancock. “Today is a big day for the CFP and for the future of college football. The depth of coverage ESPN provides for the sport all season long is unparalleled. We truly love football and couldn't think of a better platform to showcase this iconic championship as we move to a new 12-team format.”
ESPN's College Football ranks in the top 15 and over 50 of the top 100 most-watched cable programs on record (since 1987), with eight of the top 10 coming directly from a CFP semifinal or national championship game. It has been.
Photo above: Colston Loveland (No. 18) of the Michigan Wolverines runs with the ball in the fourth quarter against the Washington Huskies during the 2024 CFP National Championship game, January 8, 2024, Houston.
