That didn’t take long: after Duke and Amazon announced their three-game package for next season, the Big Ten let Duke know that it believes it owns the rights to the Duke-Michigan game in December. As we understand it, that’s because the game is scheduled for Madison Square Garden, and that’s considered shared territory between the conferences.
Duke played Michigan in DC this past season, and the Big Ten says that the next game in shared territory should go under their rights package with Fox.
There
are a lot of legal issues that most of us won’t understand, but if the Big Ten and Fox prevail, there’s one obvious solution: move the Gonzaga game to the Garden, move the UConn game to Detroit, and move the Michigan game to Vegas.
Problem solved. In a perfect world, anyway.
There may be legal issues we don’t have any idea about, and there may be reasons why Gonzaga would prefer to play in Detroit, or UConn in Vegas.
But on a quick read, that seems like the easy solution. The Big Ten can put its begging bowl out next time, and Duke can keep innovating.
Of course, between Duke, ESPN, and Amazon, there are some very talented and accomplished attorneys who have already done the work and figured this out. The Big Ten has them too, so we’ll see who wins in court before we see who wins on the court.
You’d think that Michigan would have already done that homework before they agreed to the game, but whatever.
Here’s a good legal take.
- Big Ten disputes Duke’s Amazon deal for Michigan matchup
- Big Ten miffed about Duke’s landmark Amazon deal to broadcast Madison Square Garden game against Michigan
- Report: Big Ten claims it owns rights to Duke vs. Michigan basketball game set to air on Amazon
- Big Ten disputes inclusion of Michigan game in Duke’s Prime Video deal
- Duke-Amazon partnership could send college hoops down slippery slope
- Duke’s Amazon deal could mark a new wave for NIL opportunities
- How Duke’s Amazon Deal Can Open Doors for Michigan State
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