9 of UC's final 12 games will air exclusively on ESPN+. Here's why
Email and ask me anything − sports or non-sports − or let me know if you agree or disagree with a column. I'll pick some of your messages and respond right on Cincinnati.com. The Inbox is moving to multiple times per week, so keep sending emails to jwilliams@enquirer.com
Subject: Cincinnati Bearcats are on ESPN+ a lot
Message: “I was anxious to watch the UC-Oklahoma game on Saturday, but as usual it was on ESPN+. There has to be a lot of fans that don't get ESPN+, and for the best conference in the land, they can do better. Don't know who's responsible, but they should be taken to task.”
Reply: Most Big 12 fanbases have gone through their why-are-so-many-of-our-games-on-ESPN+ phase. I was wondering when the inbox would get flooded with such complaints from UC fans, and it happened when the Bearcats’ game against then-15th-ranked Oklahoma aired on ESPN’s streaming platform.
Nine of UC's final 12 regular-season games are scheduled to air on ESPN+, including the next three starting with Saturday’s game vs. UCF. Accept it, pay the subscription fee and enjoy watching Big 12 games on ESPN+ − at least through next season. Otherwise, you can always listen to the game on the radio for free.
I’ll cut UC fans some slack, though. It’s one thing to be on ESPN+ a lot in the American Athletic Conference, but UC is playing its first season in a big-boy league. Naturally, you’d think better TV exposure would come with being in a power conference, right?
You can thank former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby for agreeing to air some football and men’s basketball games exclusively on ESPN+. It was part of the Big 12’s television rights agreement in 2019, making it the first power conference to go big with ESPN+.
At the time of the deal, the Big 12 was the smallest power conference with 10 members. The conference wasn’t particularly working from a position of strength, with the threat of more realignment on the horizon and concerns about whether the Big 12 would survive long-term.
TV executives saw Big 12 content helping to bolster ESPN+ subscriptions as part of the deal, which originally was to expire after the 2024-25 season.
Good news for UC and Big 12 fans: In fall 2022, the Big 12 reached a six-year, $2.28 billion media rights extension with ESPN and Fox. Starting with the 2025 football season, more Big 12 games will be on traditional television channels between the two media companies. Fox presumably will take on a big chunk of the conference basketball games that currently get pushed to ESPN+.
A handful of games each season still may not air on a traditional ESPN or Fox channel. The Big 12 could create its own TV network to air the games that don’t get picked up by those channels. If that doesn't happen, expect some basketball games to still end up on ESPN+.
Contact Enquirer columnist Jason Williams by email at jwilliams@enquirer.com.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: What channel is the Bearcats basketball game on? How to watch ESPN+
