ESPN’s Reported $345 Million Raise for a 24-Team Playoff Nets to $205 Million Once Three Title Games Go Away

ESPN has a handshake agreement, meaning terms agreed in principle but not yet signed, to broadcast a 24-team College Football Playoff starting with the 2027 season, ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported Friday. ESPN would pay an average of $345 million a year more over the next five years, on top of the average $1.3 billion a year it already pays for the playoff’s media rights, the fee a network pays to broadcast the games, ESPN’s Pete Thamel posted on X, citing sources.

The deal isn’t final. Dinich wrote that there is “still a significant amount of work to be done on paper, and everything is still subject to board approval across all involved parties,” as quoted by Awful Announcing. The CFP said in a statement that “Constructive discussions with ESPN continued this week,” On3 reports.

The games ESPN stops paying for

Conference championship games, the title games each league plays before the playoff, are expected to go away under a 24-team field, On3 reports. ESPN owns the TV rights to three of them: the SEC, ACC and Big 12 games.

Thamel put a number on what that’s worth to the network. “Of that new $345 million, ESPN will only essentially be paying $205 million, as they are getting back $140 million annually from the cancellation of the three power conference championship games that ESPN owns the television rights to broadcast,” he wrote.

That $140 million is about 40% of the $345 million, by my math. A large share of the headline raise is money ESPN already spends, moved from three title games to a bracket that Dinich wrote would double “the postseason path to the national title.”

On the $1.3 billion base, the gross figure would lift ESPN’s yearly playoff bill about 27%. The net lift is closer to 16%. Over five years, that’s roughly $1.7 billion gross and about $1 billion net.

On3’s Ross Dellenger reported last week that because the title games were likely to go away, a minimum of at least $300 million would be needed to expand the field to 24 teams. ESPN’s reported gross clears that line by $45 million. The net, what ESPN would actually add, comes in $95 million under it.

Where the talks stand

ESPN has been the playoff’s only media rights holder since the CFP began in 2014, On3 reports. In March 2024 it signed a six-year, $7.8 billion contract that runs through the 2031-32 season, Awful Announcing reports, citing Dinich’s reporting at the time. A 2027 start leaves five seasons on that deal, the same span as Thamel’s five years.

Last month the CFP opened a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN, with a deadline of Oct. 9. As Dellenger reported, it could stretch as many as five business days, to Oct. 16 or even Oct. 19. The handshake came on Oct. 16.

Sources

• ESPN: ESPN lands handshake agreement to air 24-team CFP
• Pete Thamel on X: ESPN’s additional CFP payment
• Pete Thamel on X: CFP handshake deal
• Awful Announcing: ESPN will reportedly pay additional $345 million annually for expanded College Football Playoff
• On3: Report: ESPN expected to pay additional $345 million per year for 24-team College Football Playoff