FOX makes final decision in hoped-for college football RedZone network: report

With a college football RedZone channel being talked about, it's unlikely we'll see Big Ten or many Big 12 games on such a network, an industry report has found.

Fox won't share the Big Ten with ESPN in any prospective college football RedZone channel. | USA Today Sports | Imagn

Fans hoping that Big Ten games or most Big 12 matchups would be included on a prospective college football RedZone channel in the future can stop hoping.

One of the major media conglomerates involved in broadcasting college football games apparently wants no part in such a project.

Fox Sports has no intention of licensing its college football games to ESPN in the event that an NCAA football edition of the RedZone channel is created, according to Front Office Sports.

One way Fox could be convinced of getting involved? It “would require significant ownership in the venture to have any willingness to participate,” according to the report.

And given the considerable investment ESPN is making in the project, it remains highly unlikely that it would surrender any stake in the network to its competitors.

In comparison with the NFL, where broadcasting rights are fairly concentrated to a few networks, the college football media landscape involves comparatively more outlets, something insiders suggested that made an imitation RedZone channel less likely than the pro version.

That probably always made it unlikely that we would ever see a complete version of any college football RedZone channel featuring the major conferences in the same way viewers can see parts of every NFL game aired on Sundays.

ESPN has exclusive rights to air SEC football games and most ACC football matchups, while Fox, NBC, and CBS pay the Big Ten roughly $1 billion in total every season for the right to show the conference’s football games.

Recent talk surrounding a college football edition of the RedZone channel arose amid ESPN’s deal to acquire the property from the National Football League, and comments by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about expanding the idea to the NCAA.

“ESPN purchased the RedZone name, and they will be able to utilize that for other sports, college football and other things, and I think that could be an exciting thing for our fans also to see a RedZone, maybe in college football or other sports,” Goodell said.

He added: “That’s something that they now own and have the ability to do that. But as far as RedZone, NFL RedZone, there won’t be any changes for our plans.”

(FSO)

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