Report: Big Ten claims it owns rights to Duke vs. Michigan basketball game set to air on Amazon

On Thursday, Amazon announced it had partnered with Duke to televise three of the Blue Devils’ games next season on Prime Video. The landmark deal is the first of its kind.

Specifically, Amazon is set to air Duke’s games against UConn in Las Vegas on Nov. 25, reigning champion Michigan at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 21, and Gonzaga in Detroit on Feb. 20. On Friday, Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger reported the Big Ten is battling against Amazon for the broadcast rights of the Duke-Michigan game.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter

“The Big Ten has notified the ACC and ESPN that it owns the rights of the announced neutral-site basketball game between Duke and Michigan next season from Madison Square Garden, scheduled for streaming on Amazon,” Dellenger wrote. “Duke collaborated with the ACC and television partner ESPN to strike the first-of-its-kind arrangement.

“… The Big Ten, backed by its primary broadcast rights holder, Fox, has communicated with both the ACC and ESPN about the matter. The league believes it owns the broadcast rights as part of a rights-holder agreement between the conferences.”

In a previous deal between the Big Ten and the ACC, the two conferences agreed to alternate broadcast rights of neutral-site games between their members played in “shared territory.” The ACC owned the broadcast rights for the Duke-Michigan game on Feb. 21 last season. The two powerhouse programs played in Washington, D.C.

Advertisement

Thus, the Big Ten believe it owns the broadcast rights to the Duke-Michigan game in the 2026-27 season. The game will undoubtedly draw a massive crowd. Michigan and Duke are each expected to be national title contenders next season.

Per Dellenger, “ESPN and the ACC are aligned in Duke’s licensing of the game to Amazon.” Nevertheless, Duke shouldn’t expect the Big Ten’s push for the game’s broadcast rights to end soon. Duke athletic director Nina King didn’t address conflicting…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/report-big-ten-claims-owns-021417657.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-05-02 02:14:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.