Big Ten miffed about Duke's landmark Amazon deal to broadcast Madison Square Garden game against Michigan

Big Ten miffed about Duke's landmark Amazon deal to broadcast Madison Square Garden game against Michigan

A broadcast dispute is emerging in Duke’s landmark, three-game streaming package with Amazon.

The Big Ten has notified the ACC and ESPN that it owns the rights of the announced neutral-site basketball game between Duke and Michigan next season from Madison Square Garden, scheduled for streaming on Amazon.

Duke collaborated with the ACC and television partner ESPN to strike the first-of-its-kind arrangement, agreeing to future scheduling commitments in exchange for the three games: against Michigan on Dec. 21 in New York, UConn on Nov. 25 in Las Vegas and Gonzaga on Feb. 20 in Detroit.

However, there’s a disagreement on which broadcaster owns one of those matchups.

The Big Ten, backed by its primary broadcast rights holder, Fox, has communicated with both the ACC and ESPN about the matter. The league believes it owns the broadcast rights as part of a rights-holder agreement between the conferences.

In a deal the two leagues previously struck, the Big Ten and ACC agreed to alternate the broadcast rights of neutral-site games between their members played in “shared territory,” such as New York City. In a message sent to ACC leaders and ESPN on Thursday, Big Ten officials made clear that the Duke-Michigan game is its property after the ACC’s partner, ESPN, received the rights to this past season’s Duke-Michigan game in Washington, D.C. — another shared territory between the two conferences.

The Duke-Michigan game in Washington was a return for Duke-Illinois on Fox the season before.

ESPN and the ACC are aligned in Duke’s licensing of the game to Amazon, sources tell Yahoo Sports. However, though ESPN permitted Duke to move forward with Amazon, the school was responsible for securing the opponent. If played in “shared territory,” it is traditionally the responsibility of that opponent (in this case Michigan) to handle rights issues with its league and its rights holder.

Officials from the Big Ten, ACC, Fox and ESPN declined comment when reached by Yahoo Sports. Duke and Michigan officials declined comment. An Amazon official did not respond to a message for comment.