Details have emerged regarding the Pac-12 television deal that was on offer prior to the conference’s collapse this week.
Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented member schools with a five-year deal with Apple that contained an annual base rate of $25 million per school, according to Stewart Mandel of The Athletic. The deal contained further incentives tied to potential subscribers to a Pac-12 streaming product similar to the agreement Apple has with MLS. The Pac-12 also would have been able to opt out of the deal after three years.
The service would have needed 1.7 million subscribers to reach the same $31.7 million average Big 12 schools are getting in their new TV deal. Five million subscribers would have taken the figure over $50 million. However, there were no guarantees that Apple would agree to simulcast the biggest games on a more traditional television network, and schools such as Washington and Oregon did not see the projected subscriber marks as realistically achievable. That prompted their decision to jump to the Big Ten, where they will initially get a payout similar to the aforementioned $31.7 million.
The Pac-12 needed a solid TV deal to preserve its continued existence. While the option that was presented did contain a good bit of upside, relying on streaming instead of linear TV would have been a huge gamble.
In the end, Oregon and Washington made the decision for everyone else by taking the added stability the Big Ten was able to offer, essentially triggering the collapse of the Pac-12 in the process.
