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The Big Ten just had its last ESPN broadcast, ending a 44-year partnership

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Mar 6, 2023 11:42 PM ET

The Big Ten has been featured on ESPN since 1979, but that's a partnership that will be no more now that the conference has signed a new television deal with the likes of FOX, CBS, and NBC.

The new deal will begin in July of 2023 and it will run through the end of the 2029-2030 athletic year if it isn't renewed before that. Though this summer will be the official kickoff of the Big Ten's new television digs, Chris Vannini of The Athletic pointed out that the Big Ten women's basketball championship game between Iowa and Ohio State is essentially the end of an era.

The ESPN-Big Ten partnership is essentially over for now. Yesterday's Big Ten women's basketball championship was its last B1G conference game before everything moves to Fox/CBS/NBC/BTN next year.

ESPN and the Big Ten have worked together since the network began in 1979.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) March 6, 2023

That's 44 years of history between the Big Ten and the "worldwide leader in sports" coming to an end. Many younger college sports fans can't even fathom 1979, let alone remember it.

Pink Floyd released "The Wall" in 1979 and music lovers could listen to it on their brand new Walkman, which was released that year by Sony.

ESPN launched at 7:00 p.m. EST on Sept. 7, 1979, with the very first live edition of Sports Center, which at the time was hosted by George Grande and Lee Leonard. Within a year, ESPN had become a 24/7 network, and the rest is history.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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