TNT Sports will televise College Football Playoff games starting this season through a sublicense with ESPN.
The five-year agreement announced Wednesday gives TNT two first-round games the first two years. Beginning in 2026, it expands to two first-round games and two quarterfinals in the Football Bowl Subdivision's national championship event.
ESPN's $7.8 billion deal with the CFP, which was announced in March, allowed it to sublicense games to other networks. Financial terms of the sublicense were not announced.
"Our strategy has always been to try and round out our portfolio and continue to add the right set of rights whenever there is a possibility," Luis Silberwasser, the CEO and chairman of TNT Sports Chairman, said to The Associated Press. "When we look at the landscape and what can really bring in massive levels of audience that is in the popular culture and must watch, the College Football Playoff is at the top of the list."
ESPN's rights to the CFP run through the 2031 season. The title game moves to ABC in 2026.
TNT Sports was one of the companies that bid on the CFP rights package before it was retained by ESPN.
Rosalyn Durant, ESPN's executive vice president for programming and acquisitions, said TNT approached them after the renewal deal was announced, and things progressed from there. ESPN and TNT have already worked together closely in the past because both cable networks have rights to the NBA and the NHL.
As to which CFP quarterfinals TNT might carry when the deal expands in two years, Durant said that remains to be determined.
Even though TNT does not televise regular-season games in college football and men's basketball, it will now carry the two biggest postseason events for those sports. TNT has been a partner with CBS in airing the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament since 2011 and has a deal through 2032.
AP photo by Jacob Kupferman / Washington linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio's helmet is knocked off as he tries to tackle Texas receiver Jordan Whittington during the Sugar Bowl, a College Football Playoff semifinal, on Jan. 1 in New Orleans.This will be the first season of a 12-team CFP as the playoff as it triples in size. ESPN has carried the College Football Playoff since it started in the 2014 season, when the four-team event consisting of two semifinals and a title game replaced the Bowl Championship Series.
In the new format of the CFP, the top four conference champions will receive first-round byes. This season, the first-round games will take place on Dec. 20-21, followed by the quarterfinals (Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl) on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. The semifinals are the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9 and the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10 before the championship game takes place on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
Kickoff times for the CFP are expected to be announced on June 6, when ESPN releases its bowl schedule.
CFP games on TNT will also be streamed on Max, and the entire playoff will be on Venu Sports, the streaming platform planned by ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery that was announced in February.
TNT added the NHL three years ago, and next year it will return to showing NASCAR races — something that previously happened from 2001 to 2014 — but TNT's future carrying NBA games remains up in the air as discussions continue with the pro basketball league on a new rights agreement.
However, Silberwasser said being part of the CFP was something TNT officials were considering independent of how NBA discussions are going.
"We continue to be optimistic about it and are working with them on different scenarios," Silberwasser said about the NBA talks. "We continue to have productive conversations with them, and we hope to make a deal that is good for both."