The Pac-12 is still searching for a media partner and, according to Dennis Dodd, things just got a little bit dicier. The CBS Sports writer reports that ESPN appears to be out as a potential bidder for the conference’s primary television rights.
ESPN’s current deal with the Pac-12 expires in July of 2024. The conference’s deal with FOX expires at the same time.
Dodd cites multiple sources that say ESPN executives told Big 12 officials that their league was one of only three college conferences the network would be in business with. The other two are the ACC and the SEC, both of which have conference networks operated by ESPN. The comments were reportedly made at the Fiesta Summit last month.
“[This is the] first time publicly [ESPN] said, ‘We’re not doing anything with the Pac-12,'” a Big 12 administrator told Dennis Dodd on the condition of anonymity.
Without ESPN in the bidding for its Tier 1 rights, the Pac-12 really does appear to be in a bind. With most other networks in the college sports business expressing no interest in those games, there is no obvious place for the Pac-12 to go.
Media money is so important to college conferences and schools’ athletic departments that there is a very real possibility that this could lead to Pac-12 members looking for a new league to call home.
From ESPN’s point of view, this may have nothing at all to do with the Pac-12 specifically. Disney is in the midst of laying off 7000 employees across multiple divisions as it focuses on controlling costs. With rights for the UFC and NBA up for renegotiation, spending money to retain any sports not seen as “must haves” for the network is likely a tough sell.
