The Big East conference announced its television coverage plans for the upcoming men’s basketball season on Wednesday, and it includes plenty of broadcast television exposure.
Fox will continue as the lead partner for Big East men’s basketball, with its broadcast network airing a minimum of 18 games during the regular season. For the first time, Fox will broadcast both semifinal games of the Big East Tournament, a departure from the network airing just one semifinal in years past. Fox also scored a trio of strong non-conference matchups, including a December 7th doubleheader featuring Kansas State-St. John’s and Wisconsin-Marquette. A week later they’ll air one of the marquee non-conference games of the year in Gonzaga-UConn from Madison Square Garden.
The upcoming season also marks NBC’s first foray into the Big East under its new deal. The network will carry two games on its broadcast network, along with exclusively streaming 25 regular season games on Peacock. Additionally, Peacock will exclusively stream the first round of the Big East Tournament and the afternoon quarterfinal doubleheader the next day.
The last bit of broadcast exposure for the conference will come from a CBS doubleheader on March 1st, bringing the minimum number of regular season games on broadcast channels to 22. The CBS Sports Network cable channel will carry an additional 20 games, 16 conference tilts, and four non-conference.
This season will be the last of CBS’s relationship with the Big East as the conference struck a six-year deal with TNT Sports earlier this year that will kick in during the 2025-26 season. That deal will see TNT Sports substantially expand the Big East’s linear television reach, with its family of networks (TNT, TBS, truTV, and Max) airing more than 65 games per season. Fox will remain on as the conference’s lead partner in the new deals, while NBC’s new deal will continue through the same term.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.