Villanova

THE BIG EAST IS COMING BACK TO ESPN! (Kind of?)

By Kyle Pagan

Published: Jul 8th, 2025 · 7:00 PM EDT

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The Big East is back on ESPN! See ya FS1! Welcome back ESPN! I’ll miss you Raff and Gus, but the Big East belongs to the Worldwide Leader! Thank god they finally buried the hatchet! Bring the Big East Tourney court back, too, while we’re at it! Free at last! Free at last! Thank god almighty we’re free at last!

ESPN has signed a deal to broadcast hundreds of Big East events, including men’s and women’s basketball, in a new six-year deal beginning in 2025–26.

After a split more than a decade ago, the Big East and ESPN have finally renewed their historic relationship.

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 8, 2025

…or so I thought. Talk about burying the lede here Front Office Sports.

This is from Amanda Christovich:

The deal guarantees that ESPN+ will broadcast 25 non-conference men’s basketball games, 75 women’s basketball games and 200 Olympic sports events annually. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

What a kick in the dick this tweet was. “Hundreds of Big East events” is doing some very heavy lifting in that tweet. Fuck! This sucks. 25 men’s basketball games is like a couple weeks of programming. Oh well, at least those details were disclosed in the first paragraph right? Nope. You had to read the entire thing. If you have an insatiable desire for Seton Hall vs. DePaul on ESPN+, that article was for you. At least we’ll get to watch all the Olympic sports coverage we want outside of an Olympic year. This story could’ve been a tweet. Hold on while I fire up YouTube and remember a better time:

Thank you.

The Fox Sports deal with the Big East runs til 2030-2031. Hopefully ESPN can take it back. It’s just feels right when we’re watching Champ Week on ESPN. This would be like CBS losing March Madness. It won’t feel right on another network. I’m still getting over the SEC leaving. ESPN and the Big East are nostalgia city. Cardiac Kemba bouncing Pitt, Eric Devendorf on the scorer’s table, Kevin Pittsnogle, and Scranton’s own Gerry McNamara. To take a quote from another Scranton guy, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days.” Now back to YouTube. Oh my god the SportsCenter Rundown. It’s BEAUTIFUL!