When Media Rights Decide Whether the Game Gets Played

In this episode of the California Sports Lawyer Podcast, host Jeremy Evans analyzes how increasingly complex media-rights agreements can determine where games are played, how they are distributed, and whether they happen at all. The canceled Duke–Michigan basketball game demonstrates how competing contractual claims can prevent a valuable sports opportunity from moving forward. Jeremy discusses why Duke and the ACC believed they could place the game on Amazon Prime Video with ESPN’s approval, while the Big Ten and Fox maintained that the rights belonged to them under an agreement governing neutral-site games between the conferences. The episode also explores media consolidation, the expanding role of sports agencies at the intersection of talent, investment, capital, and strategy, and the consequences that rights disputes create for schools, athletes, venues, sponsors, and fans. As sports, media, business, technology, and law continue converging, media rights increasingly represent both valuable commercial assets and instruments of control. Future agreements must protect those rights while preserving enough flexibility to create compelling matchups, generate revenue, develop new traditions, and ensure that the underlying games can still be played. (Season 8, Episode 29). Copyright 2026. California Sports Lawyer. All Rights Reserved. (www.CSLlegal.com) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.