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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 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) — and only three were actually playoff games (the two semifinals and the national title game). The new contract is built as either 11 or 13 games — all of which are playoff games — in a 12- or 14-team field.

“We feel really good about the value of what we’re getting in exchange for the financials being paid,” said Nick Dawson, ESPN senior vice president, college sports programming & acquisitions. “We firmly believe the event is going to be better, starting this fall at 12 teams, just in terms of how it’s going to captivate the country.”

Beginning in 2026-27, the CFP National Championship game will be broadcast on ABC in addition to ESPN’s MegaCast presentation. The new agreement includes expansive rights to simulcast or MegaCast CFP games across all Walt Disney Company platforms, including TWDC direct-to-consumer offerings.

Dawson said he doesn’t expect much to change in how the public watches these games and that ABC and ESPN will be the “primary vehicles moving forward with the deal.”

“There is a right and flexibility to do early-round games on direct-to-consumer streaming services, but as of now, no decision has been made on our side to even activate that right,” Dawson said. “A lot of this is future-proofing where the world goes over essentially eight years, and we feel really good about the flexibility we have, but in the near term, I don’t think fans would expect to see much difference in terms of how the games are distributed broadly across traditional linear television.”

The CFP format for this season and next will be five automatic qualifiers from the five highest-ranked conference champions and seven at-large bids. Last week, the nine FBS commissioners and Notre Dame agreed the playoff will include at least 12 teams in 2026 and beyond. The CFP has complete authority to determine the format.

While multiple sources have told ESPN the CFP is leaning toward a 14-team field, the number of teams and how they will qualify for the CFP hasn’t been determined beyond the next two seasons. There are protections in place for the ACC, Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 conference champions, Notre Dame and the highest-ranked Group of 5 champion in the new contract.

Dawson said the new TV deal specifically addresses 12- and 14-team models, but also includes “a mechanism to address if they expand beyond 14 teams.”

“I do think at some point you start to really impact the regular season and the conference championship games,” Dawson said. “I feel like they’ve done a great job so far of designing the 12-team model, and potentially even the 14-team model, although we’d still need to understand exactly what it looks like. … I do worry that the larger you get beyond that, I think it becomes almost impossible to avoid some damage being done there.”

The CFP has granted ESPN the right to sublicense a select number of games in both the amended two-year agreement and the new six-year extension.

“As we sit here today, no decision has been made on our side whether we’ll even pursue it or not,” Dawson said. “It’s simply a right in the deal as of right now.”

Before agreeing to the media rights deal with ESPN, the nine FBS commissioners and Notre Dame leadership had to first agree to sign a memorandum of understanding last week that outlined in broad terms what the next contract would look like. They agreed to move forward with a new revenue distribution plan that will codify the further financial separation of the expanded Big Ten and SEC from everyone else in college athletics.

The financial distribution for the expected 14-team playoff will look radically different. On an annual basis, for example, Big Ten and SEC schools will each be making more than $21 million — a drastic increase from the nearly $5.5 million that schools in Power 5 conferences are currently being paid.

In the ACC, the schools will get more than $13 million annually and Big 12 schools will get more than $12 million each. Notre Dame is expected to get more than $12 million as well and sources told ESPN there will be a financial incentive for any independent team that reaches the CFP.

There will no longer be a CFP participation bonus for any of the other leagues — a detail that was frustrating to some leaders in the Group of 5. The Group of 5 schools’ annual payments will increase to just under $1.8 million from the current $1.5 million.

For now, the CFP is treating Oregon State and Washington State as independent schools in 2026 and beyond. Given the conference’s uncertain status with 10 schools leaving next season, new Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould did not sign the memorandum of understanding last week or the new six-year deal with ESPN, but she did agree to the amended contract with the network for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Now that the revenue and media rights deal have been agreed upon, the most pressing question remaining is what the format will look like in 2026 and beyond. It’s unknown if CFP leaders will let one edition of the 12-team field play out or decide on a format in the upcoming months. CFP and ESPN leaders are expecting the 12-team field this fall to generate even more interest among fans than in the past.

“We firmly believe this fall is going to be an exciting time for college football fans,” Dawson said. “The right balance between access and still capturing the best teams in the country I think has been achieved here, and we’re excited to roll it out this fall.”

The CFP has contributed to the most-watched days in ESPN’s nearly 45-year history, led by the first CFP semifinals in 2015 boosting ESPN to 11.6 million average viewers for New Year’s Day. The CFP semifinals in 2018, 2022 and 2024 anchored ESPN in rounding out the top four complete day audiences in network history. College football on ESPN accounts for the top 15 and more than 50 of the top 100 most-watched cable programs on record (since 1987), with eight of the top 10 directly from CFP semifinals or national title games.

In 2023-24, ESPN’s expansive coverage of the CFP delivered a record year. The three-game CFP scored its most-watched matchups in six years (since Year 4) and third-best of the CFP era with 23.6 million viewers and 15% year-over-year audience growth across the trio of games. The CFP National Championship and New Year’s Six averaged 15.1 million viewers, the best audience in five years and fifth-highest in the past decade of the CFP.

The agreement with the CFP marks ESPN’s second significant college sports media rights extension in 2024, following the eight-year deal with the NCAA in January that encompasses exclusive rights to 40 NCAA championship events. ESPN now boasts the exclusive domestic rights to every major college championship outside of men’s basketball and international rights to all major college championships.

“This new agreement solidifies the broadcast future of the College Football Playoff for many years to come,” said Mississippi State president Mark Keenum, chairman of the CFP board of managers. “ESPN has been a key piece of the overwhelming success of the playoff during these first 10 years. The addition of ABC to this expanded relationship is just the next step in the continued growth of one of the top sporting events of the year.”

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

SAN JOSE, Calif. — NHL leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl left the Edmonton Oilers‘ game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in the second period because of an undisclosed injury and didn’t return.

Draisaitl appeared to be injured midway through the second period and skated gingerly to the bench before leaving for the dressing room. Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that he had no update on the severity of the injury.

Jeff Skinner scored the tiebreaking goal shortly after Draisaitl left the game, giving the Oilers a 3-2 victory that kept them within two points of the Los Angeles Kings in the race for second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Obviously we’ve had some injuries to key guys,” Skinner said. “It’s a lot of opportunity for other guys to step up and I think guys have done a good job so far. We’re going to have to continue that and keep working together to get the results we want.”

Draisaitl had an assist earlier in the second period. He leads the NHL with 52 goals and is third in the league with 106 points.

Draisaitl sat out four games last month because of an undisclosed injury.

The Oilers are already without star center Connor McDavid, who has been sidelined since colliding with Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey on March 20. McDavid has resumed skating with the team in a noncontact jersey but there is no timetable for his return.

The playoffs begin in just over two weeks.

“You never want to miss those guys,” Knoblauch said. “You never want your top players not to play because every time they’re not in, it decreases your chances of winning because they are good players, obviously. But what happens is other guys have some opportunities to play, get some confidence, hopefully score some goals, because we’re going to need them.”

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Avalanche star Cale Makar scored against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night to become the ninth defenseman in the NHL, and the first with Colorado, to score 30 goals in a season.

The sixth-year player is the NHL’s first defenseman to reach the 30-goal mark since Mike Green of the Washington Capitals had 31 in 2008-09.

Makar put the Avalanche up 5-2 by scoring a power-play goal with 38 seconds left in the second period. He was set up in the left circle for a one-timer by a pass from Nathan MacKinnon. He also had two assists as the Avalanche won, 7-3, to clinch their eighth consecutive playoff appearance.

Overall, NHL blue liners have now combined to reach 30 goals 18 times, led by Bobby Orr, who had five 30-goal seasons. Paul Coffey (four) and Denis Potvin (three) are the only others to have had multiple 30-goal seasons. The list is rounded out by Ray Bourque, Kevin Hatcher, Phil Housley and Doug Wilson.

With the goal and two assists, the 26-year-old Makar also increased his point total to 90, matching the franchise record for defenseman he set last season. In doing so, he became the NHL’s fifth defenseman to produce consecutive 90-point seasons, and first since Coffey (1988-89 to 1990-91) and Al MacInnis (1989-90 to 1990-91).

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Blues’ Holloway exits with lower-body injury

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Blues' Holloway exits with lower-body injury

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis forward Dylan Holloway left the Blues’ 5-4 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period Thursday night because of a lower-body injury.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery had no additional information on the injury after the game.

“We’ll have more, I’m sure, tomorrow,” Montgomery said.

The team announced the injury during the first intermission and said he would not return to the game. It was not clear when Holloway was injured.

Holloway had eight shifts in the first period.

Holloway has been a driving force in the Blues’ 11-game winning streak, which ties a franchise record. He has 26 goals and 37 assists in 77 games this season.

“Obviously, that’s an elite player for us, someone who plays in all situations, and, you know, a really important piece to our team,” forward Jake Neighbours said. “We had to focus on the task at hand. … it sucked losing Dylan, and just hope he’s OK.”

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