ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery agree to a 5-year partnership for College Football Playoff games.

• In 2021 and 2022, TNT will broadcast two first round College Football Playoff games, while starting in 2026, it will carry two first round games and two quarterfinals games.
• The games will be included in the Max sports tier of Warner Bros. Discovery.
• TNT and Max may not air live NBA games beyond the 2024-25 season as the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery continue negotiations.

To enhance its sports offerings, has entered into a five-year sublicensing agreement with ESPN to broadcast first-round and quarterfinal College Football Playoff games.

In 2026, TNT will carry two additional quarterfinals games, in addition to the two first round games it will broadcast this year and the next. Disney has the option to sublicense a semifinals game to TNT starting with the third year of the deal.

The College Football Playoffs will remain exclusive to Disney for the duration of the contract, which extends until 2031, according to sources who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the information. Disney is reportedly paying approximately $1.3 billion annually for the rights to the entire College Football Playoffs.

The new College Football Playoff slate, featuring 12 teams, debuts in December, replacing the previous four-team tournament that started in 2014. In the new format, the top four teams receive byes, while teams ranked No. 5 through No. 12 play first-round games at the higher-ranked team's home stadium.

ESPN will broadcast the games and use its own talent for the broadcasts, which will be branded as TNT, according to sources. Under the sublicensing agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery will pay ESPN an average of "hundreds of millions" per year for the games over the course of five years, though less in years one and two when it only has two games per year, said the sources.

The deal grants Warner Bros. Discovery the authority to sublease the games for a specified duration.

"Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, stated that it is thrilling to welcome TNT Sports, a highly respected broadcaster, to the family. Sports fans across the country are well-acquainted with their work across various sports properties over the past two decades, and we eagerly anticipate the new and innovative ideas they will bring to the promotion and delivery of these games."

The first round of the CFP for this year will occur on December 20th and 21st.

CFP in, NBA out?

Warner Bros. Discovery is expanding its Max sports tier by adding games, despite ongoing negotiations with the National Basketball Association for a live games package.

The NBA has been partnering with TNT for nearly 40 years, but there is a risk of losing the games to NBCUniversal if Warner Bros. Discovery decides not to exercise its matching rights or if the league chooses to ignore those rights.

Since 2018, the most viewed non-NFL sporting event on television was Michigan's semifinals victory over Alabama last year, which drew an average audience of 27.2 million viewers.

Despite losing the NBA, Warner Bros. Discovery will retain both the CFP and NBA until mid-2025, as well as several weeks of games for the NCAA men's basketball March Madness tournament, men's and women's soccer, NASCAR, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. This should aid the company in its upcoming carriage renewal deals for TNT and its other cable networks.

ESPN has granted Warner Bros. Discovery the right to keep all CFP games on Venu Sports, a new sports streaming service being developed by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which is set to launch in the fall.

Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent company, NBCUniversal.

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