How ESPN, the Big Ten and the SEC have changed how we’ll watch college football for years to come

Andrew Marchand is off this week, so New York Put up media reporter Ryan Glasspiegel is pinch-hitting. Andrew will return to his common spot within the Sports activities+ lineup subsequent Monday.

The School Soccer Playoff subject expands from 4 groups to 12 subsequent 12 months. Whereas there’s a very good quantity we do know, the committee nonetheless wants to determine what’s going to occur in gentle of the decimation of the Pac-12.

The convention had an computerized bid however solely 4 groups (Cal, Stanford, Washington State and Oregon State) are left, and none of them have a brand new convention to name dwelling but. Moreover, with the expanded match on the horizon, there are nonetheless some questions concerning the media rights. Let’s dig into a few of them.

ESPN introduced earlier this 12 months that it has the rights to the quarterfinals, semifinals and ultimate — a complete of seven video games — in 2024 and ’25. The primary spherical continues to be up for grabs.

• The highest 4 seeds may have a bye. The primary spherical options 4 video games on the campuses of the five-through-eight seeds.

• The six video games within the ’24-25 and ’25-26 quarterfinals and semifinals will rotate between the Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl. The ultimate will happen at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Onerous Rock Stadium in Miami, respectively.

• Sources from a number of networks informed The Put up that the preliminary costs quoted for the subsequent two years’ first-round video games, in addition to potential playoff rights past 2025-26, are “exorbitant.”

• ESPN’s president of content material Burke Magnus told The Athletic last week that the community plans to “aggressively” pursue a renewal within the CFP and mentioned it could be his choice that the package deal “shouldn’t be shared” amongst greater than two companions.

The CFP format is in limbo after the Pac-12 was left in items after what was extensively thought to be years of mismanagement by its convention commissioners and college presidents; the Large Ten and SEC maintain by far one of the best playing cards.

• After USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Large Ten final 12 months, Oregon and Washington followed this summer season. Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah additionally proclaimed they have been leaving the convention for the Large 12.

• Yahoo Sports activities reported last week that the CFP committee is assembly on Aug. 30 to determine the right way to divvy up income (both among the many 9 FBS conferences apart from the Pac-12, or maybe the remaining power-four of the Large Ten, SEC, ACC and Large 12), and the right way to decide computerized bids versus at-large.

• The chatter for weeks has been that conferences not named the Large Ten and SEC needs to be cautious about overplaying their arms with income or computerized qualifier calls for. One supply cautioned to The Put up that the opposite conferences danger implosion alongside the traces of the Pac-12, which drastically overvalued itself in community rights negotiations, in the event that they stand too obstinately in the best way of what the Large Ten and SEC need.

• OutKick founder Clay Travis tweeted earlier this month: “Relying on how the CFB playoff standards are modified, there may be additionally the likelihood the SEC & Large Ten create their very own 12-team school soccer playoff and provides half the video games to ESPN and half to Fox and crown their very own champion.”

• The Yahoo Sports activities story additionally alluded to the concept that the Large Ten and SEC “are anticipated to now maintain much more clout within the CFP room” within the quest for a better share of income and voting rights and a want to take the 12 finest groups, downplaying the concept of computerized qualifiers from different conferences.

A couple of extra odds and ends on convention realignment…

• One high-ranking supply with data of the faculty soccer panorama mentioned that Oregon and Washington may get extra money per 12 months within the Large Ten — even with a partial share — than as a part of the earlier incarnation of the Pac-12 due to the depth of colleges the Large Ten gives. For instance, Oregon versus Penn State or Wisconsin is a a lot better matchup to attract a large viewers than their enjoying Arizona or Arizona State would’ve been.

• “They’re enjoying higher colleges that generate much more worth than the faculties they might be enjoying in the event that they stayed within the Pac-12,” the supply mentioned.

• With the conferences changing into extra geographically dispersed, it raises the query of whether or not it’s price having all this air journey for a overwhelming majority of school sports activities. “I believe there’s a variety of logic to deal with the Olympic sports activities otherwise than soccer and basketball, however I don’t know if that’s going to occur,” the supply mentioned.

• The AP published a story last week about the place Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State go from right here, noting that Stanford can be keen to affix the ACC with “drastically diminished and even no media rights payout for a number of years,” whereas Oregon State and Washington State are “in limbo.”

• Washington State and Oregon State, which at the very least in the intervening time seem unnoticed of the power-four, have soccer applications which are higher than or at the very least as formidable as a variety of ACC colleges, resembling Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Duke, Syracuse and Boston School.

Fast clicks

NBC’s Peacock may have Mark Gubicza and Todd Zeile as colour commentators alongside play-by-play broadcaster Brendan Burke for its unique telecast of Mets-Angels on Aug. 27 … WWE WrestleMania 40 tickets went on-sale final week for subsequent 12 months’s spectacle at Lincoln Monetary Subject in Philadelphia; over 90,000 tickets to the two-day occasion have been offered on the primary day, and the corporate already beat its gate document — $21.5 million, set at this previous 12 months’s Mania in Los Angeles — according to Darren Rovell … Shannon Sharpe will be a part of Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take each Monday and Tuesday through the NFL season, The Post first reported last week … ESPN introduced that “The Pat McAfee Present” will debut on its linear TV and digital platforms on Sept. 7 … ESPN and Verizon have had talks a couple of strategic streaming partnership, according to The Information.