College Football Playoff, ESPN agree to deal through 2031-32 - ESPN

The College Football Playoff and ESPN have agreed to a new six-year, $7.8 billion contract that ensures the network will remain the sole media rights holder of the event through the 2031-32 season, it was jointly announced Tuesday.

ESPN, which has held exclusive broadcast rights since the CFP began in 2015, will expand its package for the final two years of the current 12-year contract, which runs through the 2025-26 season. The CFP is unveiling a 12-team format for the 2024-25 season, and ESPN will add all four of the new first-round games each year to the network's existing coverage of the New Year's Six bowls (now the quarterfinals and semifinals) and the CFP National Championship Game.

ESPN also secured a new six-year agreement that will cost $1.3 billion annually beginning in the 2026-27 season and includes exclusive rights to all rounds of the expanded playoff along with continued exclusive rights to all programming connected to the CFP, such as the CFP Selection Show, weekly Top 25 ranking shows and more.

«ESPN has worked very closely with the College Football Playoff over the past decade to build one of the most prominent events in American sports,» ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. «We look forward to enhancing our valued relationship over the next two years, and then continuing it for six more as we embark on this new, expanded playoff era.

»This agreement further solidifies ESPN as the home of college football, as well as the destination for the vast majority of major college championships for the next eight years."

The hefty price tag reflects the increase in games, as the current deal was originally constructed for seven games (including the New Year's Six bowls and the national championship) —