Report: Pac-12 Unlikely to Find Broadcast Partner to Air More Than 50% of Games on Traditional TV
The Pac-12 is running out of time. Once one of the NCAA’s premier athletic conferences, the organization is now having a great deal of trouble finding a partner for its next broadcast rights deal. The Pac-12 currently has an agreement in place with FOX and ESPN, but that deal expires in 2024.
The conference has cycled through a myriad of potential partners in its search, including digital options like Amazon and Apple. But desperation may set in soon, as CBS Sports reports the Pac-12 is now unlikely to find a broadcast partner that will air more than 50% of its games on linear television.
The report cites longtime sports media consultant Jim Williams, who says that most of the major TV providers in the market are hesitant to broadcast Pac-12 games at the price the conference wants to get out of them. The conference reportedly wants something in the neighborhood of the $31.6 million per school the Big 12 recently secured in its latest media rights deal.
“I’m at an absolute loss how NBC, CBS, ESPN, ABC or FOX gets [the Pac-12] to 50 [percent],” said Williams. “I don’t know how anybody could sit there and assure you that, ‘We’re going to have that much on linear.’ I don’t see how they get there.”
The problem from the perspective of these networks is that the Pac-12 is no longer as intriguing a product after the announcement that its two biggest brands —UCLA and USC— are leaving the conference for the Big Ten in fall of 2024. That means fewer big-name players and high-stakes games for the Pac-12, and the big networks are understandably hesitant about taking a financial gamble on the remaining schools.
That’s especially true because the Big 12 could potentially poach more programs from the Pac-12. It has interest in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado (which was a Big 12 school until 2011) and Utah, and if those schools sense that Pac-12 officials don’t have the ability to get them the broadcast money they want in the next deal, they may bolt the conference as well.
Williams points out that there are still a couple of possibilities for the Pac-12 to pass the 50% threshold of games on linear TV; namely The CW and ION.
“They could get there with ION or get there with CW,” he said of the conference. “Personally, if I were talking to one of these presidents, I would have zero problem with CW. They’ve got legacy television stations all over the country.”
The other possibility for the Pac-12 would be to sell its rights to a primarily digital outlet and offer most of its contests via streaming. But that wouldn’t sit well with many school officials like athletic directors and coaches. A rights deal that focuses on streaming would mean less visibility for their teams, making recruiting and building a brand more difficult.
“How are you going to tell Apple ‘yes,’ how do you tell Amazon ‘yes,’ if you’ve got ADs and presidents who are saying, ‘No, no we can’t do this?’” Williams asked rhetorically. “I think where we are right now is Apple would take [a piece] and maybe play with Amazon to give them [Pac-12] a Friday night game. The trickier part is who, then, becomes the linear part?”
Amazon and Apple both have plenty of experience with live sports, at least. Prime Video is the exclusive national broadcast home of “Thursday Night Football, and Apple hosts a series of weekly MLB doubleheaders on “Friday Night Baseball” on Apple TV+. Apple will also carry every Major League Soccer game of the next ten seasons via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app.
There are still plenty of questions swirling around the Pac-12 and its next media rights deal. Commissioner George Kliakov is in a tight spot, and that spot is only getting tighter as the months go by and the conference still does not have a broadcast partner in place beyond 2024.