The network giant is set to grant TNT an extra game in the CFP next year as the former continues to bulk up its offerings of college football ahead of the 2025 season
ESPN is said to be ‘finalizing an agreement’ to extend its sublicense package with TNT Sports for the College Football Playoff
ESPN has reportedly agreed to a deal that allows TNT Sports to sublicense one game from the semifinal round of the College Football Playoff over the next three years.
The network giant allowed its competitor to stream its broadcasts of Penn State and Texas‘s wins over SMU and Clemson, respectively, in the first round last season, before taking on all four quarterfinal ties, the semifinals, and the National Championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
It comes after Shaquille O’Neal made an unexpected early debut on ESPN just days after TNT’s final NBA game broadcast. The basketball legend has been part of the ‘Inside the NBA’ crew for more than a decade on TNT Sports, yet the popular show will transition to ESPN starting with the 2025-26 NBA season following TNT’s loss of an NBA TV deal.
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As compensation for its salvation of ‘Inside the NBA,’ ESPN is licensing a slate of Big 12 football and men’s basketball inventory to TNT starting this year, beginning with Hawaii’s trip to Arizona State on August 30.
Now, a fresh deal between the two networks will not only award TNT Sports two quarterfinal games for the 2026, 2027, and 2028 CFP, but one of the semifinals, too, according to a Friday report from Yahoo! Sports’s Ross Dellenger.
The reported deal sees TNT’s share of CFP broadcasts increase to nearly half; in addition to its pair of first-round games. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the CFP are also bowl games.
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As things stand, the first CFP semifinal to air on TNT in 2026 will be either the Rose or Sugar Bowl. Last season, Notre Dame stunned college football giants Georgia to claim the 2024 Sugar Bowl at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, although it was staged in the quarterfinals rather than the semifinals.
The Fighting Irish then went on to beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl in the semifinals, setting them up for a first National Championship game appearance in more than a decade. It wasn’t to be, however, as they fell to Ohio State at the final hurdle.
Last month, basketball legend Charles Barkley claimed that his outspoken views would not land him in hot water with ESPN because he “makes too much money to get fired”.
The NBA Hall of Famer is renowned for being outspoken and there have been suggestions that ESPN may ask him to tone things down a notch when he eventually makes the switch from TNT ahead of the 2025-26 basketball season, but he has since responded to such claims in true Barkley style.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates his side’s Orange Bowl victory over Penn State in the College Football Playoff Semifinal last season
“I’m not going to change my personality,” he told Outkick when asked whether anything would change next season, before calling ESPN’s bluff and daring them to fire him before he’s even made his first appearance on air.
“They can’t fire me! I make too much money to get fired. So, they can’t fire me. First of all, if they fire me, they got to pay me for seven years, and I’m going to quit way before then.
“But if they want to fire me, I would love for them to do that. The only decision we’ve been making is how long I’m going to work… I’m not worried about getting fired. And nobody at ESPN is going to tell me what to say or do. Period.”