Fox Sports is pulling out of negotiations to keep the Bowl Championship Series TV rights past 2010, the network announced late Monday afternoon.

This paves the way for ESPN to carry the BCS from 2011-14. All of the games will be on ESPN.

The following is a statement issued by Fox Sports, and it is terse:

"Fox Sports has elected not to match an offer the BCS Group has received from ESPN to televise BCS games from 2011-2014, and plans to notify the organization by phone today.

"Even with today’s vast economic uncertainties, Fox Sports made a very competitive bid to keep broadcasting BCS games free to every home in America, one that included a substantial rights fee increase, and certainly as much as any over-the-air network could responsibly risk. Unfortunately, the university presidents and BCS commissioners were not satisfied, and they’ve decided to take their jewel events to pay television. We wish everyone well."

This comes less than a week after ESPN secured the rights to televise all four rounds of the British Open golf tournament, starting in 2010. TNT had been the cable home of the tournament, while ABC had been the over-the-air home.