The Mountain West Conference announced a multi-year football partnership with TNT Sports on Monday, July 1. This upcoming season, the company will broadcast 14 games, according to a MWC press release.
Alongside CBS and FOX, TNT is the third broadcast company working with the MWC.
Two major factors played into the deal: conference realignment and TNT potentially losing out on NBA coverage.
Following the PAC-12 mass exodus last year, just two schools remain – Oregon State University and Washington State University – that paid to join the Mountain West football schedule without becoming full-time conference members, according to the MWC. With the PAC-12 depleted, the Power Five conferences became the Power Four, giving the MWC the opportunity to rise in the conference rankings of college football.
In May, TNT announced it would broadcast a few College Football Playoff (CFP) games. This upcoming season, the CFPs will expand from four to 12 teams in the bracket, according to the NCAA. This gives perennial Mountain West title contenders, like Boise State University and Fresno State University, a chance to be selected to play for an NCAA title — something that would never occur under the four-team system.
TNT has not broadcast college football games since 2006, and is now seeking to become a major player in the market. For ESPN, last season’s college bowl games averaged 4.6 million viewers and the CFP and New Year’s Six bowls averaged 15.1 million viewers, according to a press release.
The NBA – which did not renew their media deal with TNT – averaged 4.53 million viewers for playoff games across networks and ABC averaged 11.3 million viewers during the 2024 finals, according to SportsPro.
The NBA wanted a “sizable increase” to the average $2.66 billion TNT annually pays for broadcast rights, according to the New York Times. With competitors like NBC and Amazon, TNT has seemingly dropped out of the race for NBA broadcast rights and will bring their attention elsewhere.
The numbers behind the MWC football deal are unknown as of Monday, July 8, but media estimates indicate TNT is paying a nine figure sum annually to broadcast two CFP games until 2025 and four games per year from 2026-2028.
Mountain West Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said in the press release that the deal will bring more attention to the league, benefitting both the conference and fans.
“TNT Sports has always been a leader in sports broadcasting, and adding one of the top conferences in the (Football Bowl Subdivision) to its lineup will certainly be a benefit to (Mountain West) and college football fans across the country,” Nevarez said in the press release.
In the same press release, Raphael Poplock – the senior vice president of acquisitions, business development and partnerships at TNT Sports – echoed Nevarez’s statement, saying the partnership brings greater attention to both parties.
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“With this agreement, we will further expand our live sports programming on truTV while creating additional exposure for the Mountain West and its student-athletes across our TNT Sports platforms,” Poplock said.
Mountain West games will be available on truTV and MAX.
The University of New Mexico is featured in four of the 14 games. Three of the games are at home and all four take place during conference play, according to the press release.
Broadcast deals have shaped the current college football landscape, and with a new media partner in TNT, the MWC could be ready to start making moves to claim a Power Five spot.
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
Thomas Bulger is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thomasbulger10
