ESPN insider reveals the Pac-12's next play amid ongoing media rights negotiations

Pete Thamel, acting as an ESPN insider, appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show to talk about what’s next for the PAC-12, amid ongoing media rights negotiations.

When the news broke that USC and UCLA would be leaving the PAC-12 for the Big Ten, the PAC-12 decided to put negotiations for their new media rights deal into gear. The conference’s board of directors authorized negotiating the new deal immediately. The idea behind the move is to secure a better deal to improve the outlook of the conference to its remaining teams or possible future members. A large part of why the two Los Angeles schools are leaving is over the PAC-12’s poor media deal.

So, while a new deal would hypothetically help strengthen the conference’s position, without USC and UCLA, they’re negotiating from a weaker point than they were expecting to.

Thamel explained that the PAC-12 is arguing that they still have Oregon and Washington, their College Football Playoff schools. They’re pushing that they have the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest Desert. On top of that, there are numerous schools in the Mountain Time Zone.

Streaming is also going to be a key factor in how the deal is structured. This is the future of all media consumption, and college football is no different. The balancing act that the PAC-12 has to find is how much is too much for online streaming? How large a group of people are going to watch on cable, but wouldn’t watch a streamed game?

Also, an important note that Thamel gave was that international markets won’t be a major consideration for the PAC-12. This is a domestic negotiation. What matters to them is numbers in the United States of America.

Who the PAC-12’s next media deal is with remains a mystery. However, it would appear ESPN and Fox are the two networks looking to hold onto as many college football properties as possible.