ESPN to pay $80 million for Champions Bowl

According to The Sports Business Journal — hefty subscription required — ESPN has agreed to pay “roughly the same rights fee” to the “Champions” Bowl as it will the Rose Bowl. For now, the SEC and Big 12 own their game. Take $80 million and split it down the middle each year and you have the 10 Big 12 schools set to make $4 million a piece while the SEC’s 14 schools would bring in about $2.85 million annually.

Now, there are other costs to be considered, of course, and depending on how the game partners with another bowl or bowls — the Cotton and Chick-fil-A have been mentioned most often — the full $80 million might not wind up in SEC and Big 12 coffers each and every season. But you can bet a huge chunk of it will.

Interestingly, it’s taken The Grandaddy of Them All since 1902 to reach the $80 million mark while the Baby New Year created by the two best leagues in the BCS era has reached that level two years before it actually even comes into existence.

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