The Pac-12 Conference is a victim of its own messaging
The image of Pac-12 Conference Commissioner George Kliavkoff fielding questions Friday morning at the league’s media day without a new media rights deal in hand would have been less alarming had someone not set the expectation for the conference months ago.
That someone would be the Pac-12.
Back on Feb. 13 – more than five months ago – the 10 Pac-12 Board members in a joint statement expressed a unified front in the wake of pending departures of flagships USC and UCLA and specifically said it looked forward to landing a rights deal in the “very near future.” But the line in the sand kept moving, as did the calendar.
Regardless of how it shakes out – and perhaps Kliavkoff plays his limited hand well enough to ultimately placate all stakeholders – the distressed Pac-12 has been a victim of its own messaging.
“The most puzzling rights [negotiations] I’ve seen in a long, long time,” one conference commissioner told On3.
Media Day brings more awkward messaging
Friday brought another example of clumsy messaging.
Kliavkoff initially said the league is not announcing its media deal “on purpose today because we want the focus to be on football.” But when pressed to clarify if that means the deal is in fact completed yet no announcement forthcoming today, Kliavkoff said, “I think you’re reading too much into that.”
Left unanswered: If the Pac-12 is purposely choosing not to announce it today, how else should one read into that?
That brings us to where we are today – less than a year before the league’s current TV deal ends on July 1, 2024. It’s not just notable that the league still remains in pursuit of a rights agreement. But it remains unclear exactly where the two central elements of a deal – dollars and exposure – will come from.
On Friday, Kliavkoff echoed a similar sentiment expressed in the league’s Feb. 13 statement, saying an announcement will come in the “near future” and that “the longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get.” He added that there is an “underlying shift in the media market that is happening and we are long term taking advantage of that but short term it may have provided some hiccups.”
Is $31.6 million annually a ‘layup?’
Two large questions linger: What will the annual distribution figure be for each conference member? And what slice of the inventory pie will be absorbed by streaming platforms versus traditional linear networks, which provide more reach?
All signals from ESPN, including parent company Disney CEO Bob Iger‘s own words, point to the cable behemoth being far more selective in choosing rights deals moving forward. ESPN is laying off thousands of employees. And Iger recently told CNBC that Disney is open to finding a new strategic partner for the network.
Streaming platforms Amazon and Apple both could still be in play. With regard to the Pac-12, John Kosner, the former ESPN digital executive and the chief executive of media consultancy Kosner Media, months ago told On3 to keep in mind Apple’s 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with MLS. Specifically, he said, the MLS deal left room for the league to place certain inventory on FOX Sports broadcast TV as well, achieving a broader reach through the linear route.
As for dollars, the Pac-12 internally has remained bullish on landing at a figure near $31.6 million annually for members, which is what the Big 12 secured for its schools in its new rights deal. A Pac-12 source months ago told league insider John Canzano that being within range of the Big 12 number was a “layup.”
Yormark ‘outflanked’ Kliavkoff
The question is what dollar figure will prevent Colorado – and perhaps other Four Corner schools of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah – from entertaining overtures from the Big 12, which is actively looking to expand. Commissioner Brett Yormark told On3 he would be a “little disappointed” if the league didn’t add two schools sometime over the next two years.
In terms of optics, the Pac-12’s situation looks worse because it is contrasted with Yormark, new to the job last fall, moving swiftly to leapfrog the Pac-12 and nail down its new deal to stabilize the league amid pending departures of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. Yormark said the pact – a six-year, $2.2 billion extension with ESPN and FOX – looks better every day, especially considering the fierce headwinds in the media rights space.
One veteran TV source said Yormark “outflanked” Kliavkoff, adding, “He moved quickly. Had the Pac-12 done that, would they have gotten a deal first? I don’t know. Now they’ve had instability that the Big 12 did not have.”
The Pac-12 hasn’t yet found stability. With Kliavkoff silent publicly until today, it let others shape the narrative. The process has been shrouded in secrecy. Leadership at member schools have spoken up occasionally, but messaging has been mixed. Some voiced optimism, while others took a wait-and-see approach, with Arizona President Robert Robbins telling ESPN last month that “no one can make an informed decision” before they see financials.
Asked why he ceded the opportunity to provide public updates, Kliavkoff said he could have spent all last year “getting into a he said, he said on every single rumor,” but “we decide to take the high road, we decide to focus on the future of the conference. That is why we haven’t engaged.”
“What I will tell you is, when you think about the effect that might have on our schools, of not being in the public every day talking and defending ourselves, for me the concern – the real concern – was is it going to affect our recruiting,” Kliavkoff added. “Are we going to lose potential student-athletes because of some uncertainty? I will tell you, our recruiting has never been stronger. That kind of reinforced the decision to not engage.”
Pac-12: ‘Our schools are committed to each other’
Kliavkoff today doubled down on what he views as the league’s united front. He said, “our schools are committed to each other and the Pac-12.” Kliavkoff also said that “I think the realignment that is going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle.” Kliavkoff also remained firm on the Pac-12’s sequence of events related to potential expansion: secure rights deal, members sign Grant of Rights (which have already been negotiated), and then consider expansion.
That said, the No. 1 question on everyone’s mind Friday was an update on the protracted rights negotiations, what Kliavkoff termed “never-ending speculation on timing.” The reason there is incessant speculation is because that Feb. 13 statement has not aged well. There was no announcement in the “very near future.”
Will there be one this time?
Remains to be seen.
But Pac-12 leaders continue to take arrows. They haven’t lived up to expectations that they themselves established on timing.
Victims of their own messaging.