Realignment and expansion in college football has been a very sticky and complicated process. But on Saturday as the 2024 season kicked off in full for Week 1 all of the new conference relationships were on display. At least for those that could see them. For Big Ten Network subscribers with Comcast on the west coast, they were left in the dark.
In the days prior to Week 1, the typical doom-filled statements about fans missing games were released with the Big Ten Network and Comcast as the two sides have been locked in a carriage dispute on the west coast thanks to realignment. The crux of the argument is the tier that BTN would appear on. While other providers have played ball in moving BTN to a more basic tier, Comcast has held firm.
Typically once games arrive, the two sides are able to hammer out a deal with a true deadline in place. Unfortunately that did not happen in time for Week 1 in college football. And now that we’ve crossed that threshold, the two sides are entering into more public posturing and preparing for a lengthy dispute.
Longtime west coast sportswriter John Canzano has a statement from the BTN side:
The whole thing is absurd and ironic. Also, frustrating for some Oregon and Washington football fans who find themselves unable to watch their teams unless a late agreement is reached.
As one source told me on Friday: “This will take a little bit of time.”
On Saturday, the Big Ten Network issued a statement: “Despite our efforts, Comcast Xfinity maintains its position as the only distributor that declined to expand with the newest members of the Big Ten Conference.”
And the Seattle Times has the Comcast side of the story:
The issue is that Comcast is refusing to move the Big Ten Network, which is owned by FOX, to a basic subscription tier along the West Coast.
“We’re sensitive to the impact these costs have on our customers and have been in discussions with FOX and the Big Ten Network to find a solution to make certain former Pac-12 games available to the people who want them while not forcing others to pay for content they don’t want to watch,” Comcast said in a statement issued Saturday. “We hope to be able to reach a fair agreement with FOX and the Big Ten Network to be able to offer these games to our customers.”
In Week 1, Washington’s Big Ten debut was blacked out for Comcast subs in the Pacific Northwest with their game against Weber State airing late night on BTN. Even worse, Washington has another game next week against Eastern Michigan also scheduled for Big Ten Network.
And in a comment to the Seattle Times, the school is putting public pressure on Comcast to get a deal done with the conference network.
“We’re not happy with Comcast’s decision to kind of dig their feet in on this issue and not make the games available for wonderful fan bases in Washington, Oregon and California,” said Kurt Svoboda, UW’s deputy athletic director for external relations. “It affects a lot of people.”
Missing any games is a cruel blow to sports fans, especially with the excitement of schools up and down the coast being in a new league. But it’s one thing to miss non-conference games against schools like Eastern Michigan and Weber State. If conference games are missed, especially those that are played on the road on the other side of the country, the pressure will only increase on BTN and Comcast to get something done. But since BTN is already available on other providers in the area, they would appear to have the leverage for now.
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