Jared Kamrass took note that the report got buried among the excitement of College Football season’s start. But after the Pac12 conference’s summer started off on a horrible note, losing flagship members USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, it appears their summer may be ending just as badly.
John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reported that the Pac12 and its media rights partner, ESPN, are “hundreds of millions” of dollars apart in renewing the conference’s media rights deal with the World Wide Leader in Sports.
Neither party would confirm the reports, but Ourand is as plugged in as it comes, and the Pac12 is acting a lot like a conference fighting for its survival. Just this week, it formally asked the University of California system Board of Regents to block the move of UCLA to the Big Ten, widely seen as a desperation Hail Mary (pun very much intended) to bring some survival to the reeling schools remaining.
Just weeks before that, the Big 12 announced it would be entering into early renegotiations with its partners, ESPN and FOX. This coming on the heels of swirling speculation that the Big 12 might look to invite up to four current Pac12 members (Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado). While the Big 12 is expected to take a haircut after losing Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC and replacing them with Cincinnati, Houston, Central Florida, and BYU, the early negotiations with rights-holders means the Big 12 will be able to show prospective new members real numbers while the Pac12 is struggling to get any guarantee from their own.
Finally, respected College Football reporters Brett McMurphy and Pete Thamel separately broke stories this summer that Washington and Oregon leadership had met with Big Ten leadership in Chicago about their interest in joining USC and UCLA as West Coast members of the conference.
As the dust settles, the Pac12 is down its top brands, with its remaining top brands looking around, all while their media partners are looking to make deals with conference competitors. It’s not clear how Commissioner George Kliavkoff can hold his conference together as richer conferences consolidate and media networks devalue his conferences’ brand.
Jared Kamrass 