While many college football teams and conferences are exploring streaming platforms as a place to broadcast games, a lawmaker is hoping to prevent Ohio State games from ever being shown exclusively on those platforms.
State Senator Bill DeMora, a Democrat from Columbus, is making an attempt to ban Ohio State football games from being aired only on streaming platforms in a new piece of proposed legislation.
DeMora introduced Senate Bill 94, which would prevent any university in the state from signing a media contract that allowed for streaming exclusive games in the future.
It all started when DeMora wanted to watch Ohio State play Purdue back in 2023, but was unable to because the game was aired exclusively on the Peacock streaming platform.
“It was the first time in over 20 years that I couldn’t watch an Ohio State football game on a regular channel,” DeMora said.
“I refuse to pay all these streaming networks to watch Ohio State and other sports… Streaming television is not good for sports,” he added.
Ohio State playing only on Peacock was a first of sorts, as it marked the first time in 315 contests that the Buckeyes were not nationally televised over the air, according to the school.
DeMora’s proposal would also require universities in Ohio to agree to a deal with streamers that would allow enrolled students to watch athletic events for free.
Whatever legislative measures may be taken to intervene in the streaming economy, it appears that schools and conferences are leaning more in that direction anyway.
Ohio State and its Big Ten partners are making around a billion dollars a year combined in their new television deal that followed realignment, and streaming those games is a big part of that pact.
As inconvenient as it may be for consumers to have to shell out more money to watch their teams play some of these games, it’s now expected that Peacock and Amazon and others will be getting involved and airing those matchups on their services.
And from Ohio State’s perspective, the money it’s making from its media contract is a lot more important than having lawmakers look to get involved in its deals.
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