TNT Strikes Deal With ESPN to Air College Football Playoff Semifinals

In 2024, TNT returned to college football after a lengthy absence—showing ESPN-produced College Football Playoff broadcasts of Penn State and Texas's wins over SMU and Clemson, respectively.

Seemingly content with the results, the network appears to want more of the CFP pie. TNT has agreed to a deal that will allow the network to sublicense one semifinal game from 2026 to '28, according to a Friday afternoon report from Yahoo! Sports's Ross Dellenger.

The reported deal would increase TNT's share of CFP broadcasts to nearly half; in addition to its pair of first-round games, it will air two quarterfinals beginning this year. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the CFP are bowl games.

In addition to the CFP, TNT's bulked-up college football portfolio will include Big 12 games this season—beginning with Hawaii's trip to Arizona on Aug. 30. As compensation for ESPN's salvation of Inside the NBA, ESPN is licensing a spate of Big 12 football and men's basketball inventory to TNT starting this year.

Barring radical changes to the CFP format, the first CFP semifinal to air on TNT in '26 will be either the Rose or Sugar Bowl.

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