BYU’s football independence has largely hinged on the ability for their games to be broadcasted nationally and the Cougars took a step toward ensuring that would happen for much of the next decade in officially announcing a new seven year media rights deal with ESPN.
The deal includes at least four games broadcasted on the ESPN family of networks (plus ABC) through the end of the 2026 season. Also announced was an agreement with the media conglomerate’s subsidiary ESPN Events to have the Cougars play in six bowl games owned by the entity through the 2025 season should they be eligible.
“We have been fortunate to have an amazing relationship with ESPN for decades,” BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said in a statement. “There is great collaboration because the relationship is truly a partnership and continues to get stronger every year. We are very grateful for all that ESPN does to support and promote BYU Athletics.”
ESPN will also handle the streaming component for all BYU home games while at least one football game per season will be broadcasted on the school’s own network, BYUtv.
Perhaps just as important to the program’s fans, the bowl tie-ins have gone from a huge unknown at the end of the year to being fairly set in stone. The Cougars will play in the Independence Bowl in 2021 (vs. CUSA), 2023 (vs. Pac-12) and 2025 (vs. CUSA). The team will also be the first option for the Cheez-It Bowl should either the Big Ten or Big 12 not have enough teams for the games in 2020, 2022 and 2024. If they’re not ticketed for the Phoenix-based bowl game, they will head to one of the dozens of other ESPN-owned postseason games instead.
“BYU is a key component of our extensive college football media rights portfolio and we are pleased to continue the relationship well into the future,” added Pete Derzis, ESPN Senior Vice President of Programming and Events. “The new agreement will build upon our last nine seasons, as we collectively work together showcasing the Cougars to a national audience and their extensive fan base.”
The four-lettered broadcaster should have no shortage of interesting games to put on over the coming years with BYU hosting Power Five programs like Michigan State (2020), Arizona State (2021), Baylor (2022), Arkansas (2022), Tennessee (2023) and Stanford (2025) in Provo. In addition, the Cardinal and former MWC foe Boise State have multi-year home-and-home agreements with the Cougars for games as well.
