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The Warner Bros. Discovery unit will sublicense several games each year as the playoff expands to 12 teams in the coming season.
By Rick Porter
Television Writer
ESPN and TNT Sports — already partners in an upcoming sports streaming bundle — are teaming up again.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports will air some early-round College Football Playoff games in a sublicensing deal with ESPN, beginning with the coming season as the playoff expands to 12 teams. The five-year deal calls for TNT to air two first-round games following the 2024 and 2025 seasons, then add two quarterfinal matchups in the remaining three years of the deal.
In March, ESPN signed a six-year extension, valued at a reported $7.8 billion, with the College Football Playoff that will keep the playoff under its umbrella through 2031-32. The sublicense with TNT will mark the first time any CFP games have aired anywhere but ESPN and its fellow Disney outlets.
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“We’re delighted to reach this agreement with ESPN, providing TNT Sports the opportunity to showcase these College Football Playoff games on our platforms for years to come,” TNT Sports chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser said in a statement. “TNT Sports aims to delight fans and drive maximum reach and engagement for these marquee games.”
Added Rosalyn Durant, ESPN’s executive vp programming and acquisitions, “ESPN is pleased to sublicense to TNT Sports a select number of early round games of the College Football Playoff, an event we’ve helped to grow — alongside the CFP — into one of the preeminent championships. We’re confident in the reach and promotion that this new agreement will provide as we enter the new, expanded playoff era.”
ESPN, TNT Sports and Fox Sports are partners in Venu Sports, the newly named sports streaming bundle that will combine the offerings of the three companies. Those currently include portions of the media rights packages for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and NASCAR, all of the National Hockey League’s current national deal and upcoming men’s and women’s World Cups in soccer.
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