With less than a year now until the end of the current Pac-12 media rights deal, the clock is ticking on the conference’s future.
Commissioner George Kliavkoff met with leaders from member schools on Tuesday and presented details of a potential new deal, but no agreement was reached.
The conference is skating on thin ice. USC and UCLA will be members of the Big Ten, and Colorado decided to return to the Big 12 in 2024. There were rumors that the Pac-12 was trying to lure San Diego State and SMU into the fray to fill the gap left by SC and UCLA, but that seems to hinge on the completion of this media rights deal.
San Diego State has since committed to playing another year in the Mountain West, and SMU remains in the American Athletic Conference.
The Pac-12 has been working on a new media rights deal since last year. As the Big Ten and the SEC, and then the Big 12, all announced new contracts, the Pac-12 has sputtered along.
It’s believed that the parameters of a deal presented by Kliavkoff on Tuesday involved a heavy streaming component from Apple. But Amazon and other linear TV networks have been connected to talks. Additionally, the money paid out to the schools was less than what school presidents had wanted, but it’s estimated that figure would rise over additional years.
