The Pac-12 imploded last week, effectively ending a 108-year run for the legendary conference. And the conference has nobody to blame but themselves and their complete failure of leadership.
We’re also learning just to what extent they miscalculated the marketplace.
The Pac-12 broke apart because the TV deal conference commissioner George Kliavkoff presented the member schools last week was deemed too risky and too unsatisfactory. The offer was for around $25 million per school and would have been an all-streaming deal through Apple TV. Not only was the base pay too little, but the lack of exposure through linear TV was a concern for many schools.
Arizona, Arizona State and Utah followed the lead from Colorado and left for the Big 12, where there was more money ($31 million per school) and stability. Oregon and Washington followed UCLA and USC to the Big Ten, though the Ducks and Huskies did not receive a full share of revenue yet. Only four schools remain in the conference: Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State.
So, just how badly did the Pac-12 butcher the situation?
According to multiple reports this week (from John Canzano, Jason Scheer at Sports Business Daily), the Pac-12 was presented with an offer from ESPN last year for $30 million per school. This offer came after USC and UCLA had left for the Big Ten and would have enabled the conference to continue operating with their 10 teams.
The Pac-12 turned down the deal because they wanted $50 million per school, according to Canzano. Scheer told me via Twitter that Kliavkoff wanted $40 million per school.
Whatever the actual number was, while the Pac-12 was playing numbers games with ESPN, the Big 12 swooped in and accepted the deal with ESPN. After that happened, there was no deal/money left for ESPN to give the Pac-12.
The Pac-12 completely played themselves out of a spot.
You can point to multiple factors as the reasons the Pac-12 fell apart.
The conference was run into the ground by former commissioner Larry Scott, who gave bad advice every step of the way. They failed to get the Pac-12 Networks on DirecTV, which cost them a good portion of the Los Angeles TV-viewing market. They rejected expansion efforts from Texas and Oklahoma. They rejected more expansion efforts later because schools did not fit the conference’s academic profile. They rejected selling the Pac-12 Networks to a cable or TV company. They didn’t want to play football during COVID because they thought it was unimportant. They had Cal still postponing games due to COVID in 2021 when every other school in the country was playing. The involved schools dismissed the importance of football and sports overall.
At every turn, the Pac-12 reeked of arrogrance and miscalculation. It all came back to bite them in the rear.
Instead of recognizing that they had little leverage and that their options were limited, the Pac-12 told ESPN to come back with a better offer. ESPN responded by giving the offer to the Big 12 instead. And that is why the Big 12 is still standing and the Pac-12 is not.
People have been wondering how the Big Ten and ESPN have money to pay for these schools in other conferences, but not when they were all together in the Pac-12. Now you know the truth: ESPN was willing to pay, but the Pac-12 overvalued themselves. And that’s why the Pac-12 finds themselves in this position.
