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ESPN Poised to Lose Big Ten Rights for First Time in 40 Years, per Reports

ESPN could be on the brink of losing its broadcast rights to Big Ten football and basketball games.

The conference’s rights negotiations are nearing a conclusion, and CBS and NBC are the frontrunners to purchase the conference’s remaining inventory, according to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand. An agreement could be reached as soon as the end of this week.

Fox Sports already has agreed to a package that includes a football game in its noon ET time slot, plus games on Fox Sports 1 and Big Ten Network, a channel in which Fox owns a 60% stake, according to Ourand.