Paul Finebaum advises Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to 'jump, run ... get away from the Pac-12'

It’s time for Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to jump ship from the Pac-12 and get to the Big 12, or somewhere at this point, according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum.

After the Pac-12 presented a potential streaming deal with Apple, there isn’t too much confidence around the league to make this new media work, and work well. Following a Board of Regents meeting in Arizona, there’s speculation the Arizona schools could leave very soon, following Colorado’s move to the Big 12.

Overall, Finebaum blasted the Pac-12 and encouraged the three previously mentioned schools to get out.

“Jump, run, do anything they can to get away from the Pac-12,” Finebaum said Wednesday on Get Up. “I mean, I was listening to Pete (Thamel) and you’re going to go to a college president when he has a good deal over here and say, ‘Hey listen doctor, president of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, be patient. If we can get enough people to sign up on Apple that we are going to be great.’ 

“Well the bottom line is this guys, nobody’s signing up on Apple to watch the Pac-12 because there’s nothing to watch once you lose Colorado, UCLA and USC. I mean, I don’t want to be the guy that keeps burying this lede, because I think I did it the other day, but I’m gonna keep doing it. Somebody needs to shovel dirt on this league and end this charade. It’s over for the Pac-12 And these three don’t get out of there, they’re going down with the ship.”

A Pac-12 streaming deal with Apple?

As for whether the money could be there, Thamel said it might be less than other conferences initially. However, there might be opportunities to increase payouts as the deal goes along. That said, the situation might not be ending as quickly as some expected.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a linear finish to this. I do think it’s going to drag out a little longer,” Thamel said regarding the potential media deal for the Pac-12. “So I don’t think anyone’s either exiting or banding together. But the good news for George Kliavkoff is after a year of a protracted deal and missteps, he brought to the table today a potential deal with Apple.” 

But primarily a streaming deal? That’s a tough sell in a world with a ton of television dollars.

“Sources told ESPN that the deal is a primary streaming deal, which could give school some pause as a linear aspect was always going to be a critical piece of the deal going forward,” Thamel said. “But with the Apple deal, they would align themselves with a prominent streaming partner and the money, although initially may be below where the Big 12 is expected to start in their deal 2025 — $31.7 million — there’s potential through subscriptions via Apple TV to go past that Big 12 number.”

Without anything concrete, signs point to the Pac-12 losing three more schools and having to regroup to fix things. Will it happen? It remains to be seen as the conference drags out this process longer.