ESPN to pay $80 million annually for Rose Bowl rights
ESPN agreed to pay an average of $80 million per year for Rose Bowl broadcast rights from 2015 through 2026.
The value, as reported by The Sports Business Journal, represents a 167 percent jump from the $30 million deal currently in place.
The revenue goes exclusively to the Big Ten and Pac-12 except in years when the Rose Bowl is played as a national championship semifinal game.
The price tag adds to speculation that a four-team playoff might drive media rights over the estimated $500 million cost experts suggested to SBJ last month in Washington, D.C.
SBJ reported that ESPN, as the current BCS broadcast partner, owns a 30-day exclusive negotiating window to bid for rights to the new system in 2014. The current ESPN-BCS deal with $125 million per year, not including the separate Rose Bowl contract.
