CBS ready for 'main course' in first full season of Big Ten football as SEC partnership ends

INDIANAPOLIS – In 2023, CBS took its first big step toward full-time Big Ten football coverage.

The network carried seven games from the conference, which was beginning a lucrative $7 billion agreement. At the same time, the SEC was wrapping up its partnership with CBS with a move to ESPN and ABC coming in 2024. That meant the 3:30 p.m. ET window was split between the two leagues.

Now, CBS is diving in headfirst with the Big Ten this year and will be the home of the conference championship game. Along with FOX and NBC, it will be part of a full slate of games airing on major networks.

Big Ten fans got familiar with the broadcast crew of Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Jenny Dell for a few games last season. That was just the appetizer, though.

“Last year, I think, whet our appetite for the main course,” said CBS executive vice president of programming Dan Weinberg. “We’re ready to sink our teeth into it.”

CBS was the home of the SEC for 18 seasons, with the 3:30 p.m. ET window becoming one of the top slots in the country. During last year’s regular season, two games at that time – Alabama vs. Auburn and Alabama vs. Tennessee – were in the Top 25 most-watched games of 2023, according to Sports Media Watch.

Danielson was there through it all, working alongside Nessler and Verne Lundquist in the booth. Now, he’s heading back to his Big Ten roots, where he starred as a quarterback for Purdue, and he’s already channeling one of the league’s best personalities.

“I’ve had the best of all worlds,” Danielson told On3. “I’ve been doing it since ‘90, I’ve had the primetime game since 1990, I’ve done over 500 games – probably more than anybody ever has. Keith Jackson or anybody. I’d bet I haven’t had 20 games that weren’t high-consequence games.

“So, I’m gonna get to do that again. I hesitate to quote Jim Harbaugh, but nobody’s had it better than me.”

Big Ten is ‘gonna be a change’ for CBS crew

Jenny Dell never imagined being on the sidelines for some of college football’s big moments.

A Connecticut native, her love for football was mostly around the NFL. That’s also where she got her start at CBS as the network’s No. 2 sideline reporter.

But when the opportunity came to do college football work, Dell gave it a shot. It didn’t take long for her to realize it’d become a passion – especially considering where her first assignment was.

“When CBS first said, ‘Hey, we want to move you from the NFL. We want to try you out on some college games,’ I was like, ‘Oh, really? Is that what we’re doing here?'” Dell told On3. “And then I went to my first SEC game, and it was at Auburn. And my eyes just lit up.

“… I’m looking forward to having that same experience now in the Big Ten because I was able to go across all these SEC schools and environments, learning the traditions. Now, to be able to experience that on a whole new level with the Big Ten, four new universities coming in, I can’t wait.”

Dell joined CBS’ lead broadcast team in 2022 after serving as the sideline reporter on the No. 2 team. She fit in right away with Nessler and Danielson, who started their time together in 2017 after Lundquist retired.

After so much time in the SEC, they’re all getting ready to learn a new conference. But with the experience on the crew already, it won’t take long to adjust.

“It’s gonna be a change,” Nessler told On3. “Obviously, the travel’s a little bit different. You get really used to the coaches and the sports information directors and all the people around the program, and it’s kind of like second nature when you’re gonna do five Alabama games or five Georgia games a year or whatever. So there’s a comfort zone in that that’s gonna be taken out of.

“… To have a coast-to-coast conference – which I never thought I’d see in a million years – looking forward to all the new spots that are old spots. I’ve been to every one of these stadiums, I’ve done all these teams at some point or another. But to get back in it on a full-time basis, it’s gonna be a challenge, a little bit. If I was 35 instead of what I am, it would be a little bit different. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s gonna be fun.”

‘We crown champions on CBS Sports’

Since the Big Ten started playing a championship game in 2011, FOX held the exclusive rights. The network aired the matchup every year since, with Gus Johnson on the call with Charles Davis as his original partner and Joel Klatt later succeeding him.

This year, fans will hear not only an entirely new crew but have to turn to a different channel. CBS will carry this year’s Big Ten Championship, with that 3:30 p.m. ET crew behind the microphones. That’s part of the new media deal. FOX will get the game back next year, NBC will carry it in 2026, FOX will get it again in 2027 and CBS does in 2028.

The significance of calling the matchup isn’t lost on Danielson. After all, it won’t be the first time he’s a fresh voice calling a championship game.

“What a thrill,” said Danielson, standing at the 50-yard line at the same stadium that hosts the Big Ten Championship in December. “The last SEC Championship game before CBS got it, Brent [Musberger] and I did it for ABC.

“So now, full circle, I’m gonna come back with Brad, and we’re gonna do for CBS under the new format with [18] teams, we’re gonna do the first Big Ten Championship. How cool is that? It’s gonna be great.”

Even beyond the booth, Weinberg pointed out how important that game will be not only for the conference but for CBS. It also adds to the special nature of the Big Ten partnership.

“I say this all the time … we love crowning champions at CBS Sports,” he said. “That’s what we do. And you look across our schedule of our annual calendar, we crown champions.

“The champion of the Big Ten is a prestigious place to be. Crowning that champion is a privilege. It’s something we’re very excited for.”