Fox Sports preparing for big move on Big Ten

The Big Ten Conference is poised to shift much of its media rights from ESPN to Fox.

An industry source on Tuesday confirmed a Sports Business Daily report that a pending six-year deal would give Fox Sports and Fox Sports 1 about 25 football games and 50 men's basketball games per season starting in the fall of 2017.

The deal could be worth as much as $250 million per year — and that's for only half of the Big Ten's inventory. ESPN, which has been broadcasting Big Ten football and basketball games for decades, has been paying $100 million per year.

Each Big Ten school, save for recent additions Maryland and Rutgers, is expected to receive $40 million to $45 million a year in media rights once the new deals kick in. That figure was $20 million in 2009-10.

The Big Ten will return to market to solicit bids on the second half of the package, according to the report. Among the potential interested parties are ESPN/ABC, CBS, NBC and Turner Sports.

ESPN had first negotiation rights to renew, but the network is in cost-cutting mode after losing about 7 million subscribers from 2014 to '16 as so-called "cord cutters" opt for slimmed-down TV packages.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is personally handling the negotiations for the conference — no surprise, considering how he boosted revenue by creating the Big Ten Network. BTN's deal with the conference runs through 2031-32.

BTN is a joint venture between the Big Ten and Fox. The Fox networks have not been home to any Big Ten football or basketball games save for the conference's football championship game, which began in 2011.

Sports Business Daily has reported that CBS wants to renew its package of men's basketball games, currently worth $12 million a year. That contract, like ESPN's, expires after next season.