Report: Pac-12 will not announce new TV deal at media day
The Pac-12 is not expected to announce a new TV deal when it hosts its media day Friday, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported. The conference has been working to come to an agreement on a new contract since last summer, but one year later still has a lot to figure out.
USC and UCLA are already set to leave for the Big Ten after this season, causing the league to lose the major TV market of Los Angeles. Reports have indicated that more schools could soon follow. Colorado has already had “substantive” about joining the Big 12. With so much about the future of the league unknown, finding a network to commit for the long term has proven difficult.
Time is of the essence, however, as the current Pac-12 TV deal is set to expire in July of 2024. Dellenger reported the expectation is that the league will work something out prior to the start of this upcoming season. However, even that isn’t guaranteed, with one source simply describing the timeline as the “near future.”
Coming to an agreement soon will be crucial if the Pac-12 wants to keep more schools from departing. The Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC have already locked up TV deals, putting pressure on the Pac-12 to make a move soon.
The league has considered expansion to add schools such as San Diego State and SMU, which would give it TV markets in the major cities of Dallas and San Diego. However, talks with those schools have not yet led to anything official.
ESPN, FOX, NBC and CBS have already reached deals with other conferences, but that doesn’t mean the Pac-12 can’t secure a TV deal with one of those networks. However, given the current landscape of things, the league has considered choosing a streaming service such as Amazon or Apple as its primary broadcast partner.
Whichever route it takes, the clock is ticking for a decision to be made soon.
Heather Dinich explains how Pac-12 media deal could impact Colorado’s expansion plans
ESPN’s Heather Dinich provided some fascinating insight into how the Pac-12’s media deal, along with the Colorado Buffaloes, are impacting the Big 12’s expansion plans.
“Just about every other leader in college athletics is waiting to see what the Pac-12 is going to do,” explained Dinich. “Waiting for it to announce its new TV deal. That could come later this month. It might not come later until August. Nobody knows exactly when that’s going to happen, but the question is, does Colorado have the patience to wait for it? They have, according to sources, been the greatest flight risk, and growing impatient, and if that were to happen, would other dominos fall? But the bottom line is this, the Pac-12 could stay intact.
“What has to happen is that they announce their TV deal, the Presidents and Chancellors in the Big 12 say, ‘Okay, this is good enough, it’s on par with the PAC-12,’ they sign the grant of rights and everybody moves on.”
On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.