![]() Meanwhile, the league's other partner, Fox, has not made such an agreement.ĮSPN owns 63% of the value of the $2.3 billion contract that begins in 2025. ![]() While it's no secret Yormark wouldn't mind expanding beyond 12 teams, Big 12 partner ESPN has agreed to pay pro rata (equal value to existing teams) should the Big 12 add members, CBS Sports has confirmed. (The Big Ten negotiated with Amazon while weighing its options, but a sizable bid was turned down, according to SportsBusiness Journal.)ĭetails have emerged on the inner workings of Big 12 expansion. ![]() They didn't want some of their games relegated to a still-emerging streaming platform. Not only are those schools not worth the $75 million per year Big Ten schools got in their new media rights deal, the likes of Purdue, Minnesota and Indiana pushed back against further expansion. It's possible that caused strong push back from inside his conference when Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren kept advocating for adding California, Oregon, Stanford and Washington in expansion. Rather, the biggest question for the Pac-12 remains: Who will see its games? For the first time, a Power Five conference would be showing significant content on a stand-alone streaming service without a TV affiliation. USC and UCLA will also be playing Big Ten games in the late-night fourth window. Those two giants already will be dominating the day with Big Noon (Fox), the valuable 3:30 window (SEC) and Big Ten Saturday Night (NBC). (The Pac-12's all-in total - including the CFP, bowl games and NCAA Tournament payouts - wouldn't be as large, mostly because the value of Pac-12 basketball pales in comparison to that of the Big 12.)īy cutting in line, the Big 12 also gets access to broadcast windows already choked with premium Big Ten and SEC content. If a deal with ESPN and a streaming giant like Amazon is reached, the Pac-12 would likely be able to command a sum approximate to the Big 12's base figure. One source said the league had sent out a "robust" proposal to ESPN and Amazon. The Pac-12 is expected to finalize a deal in principle by the beginning of 2023, two industry sources told CBS Sports. The money is the money, an average of $31.66 million per school beginning in 2025 with an all-in figure of about $50 million per school annually when the College Football Playoff expands. The advantage of the Big 12 jumping the line to sign a new media rights deal with ESPN and Fox last month at least secures the conference's future: It will continue to be shown on linear television. It has become less about money and more about visibility. Whether the Pac-12 makes more than the Big 12 isn't the issue. Colorado became the most likely team to leave the Pac-12 due to its deep knowledge of the Big 12 - having spent 63 years in different iterations of the league - and a surge in popularity spurned almost entirely by hiring NFL star Deion Sanders as the Buffaloes new football coach.Those hung up on the value of media rights deals at this point aren't asking the right questions. What happens in the future remains to be seen. Will enough dominoes fall to cause an even more significant shift in realignment?.The Pac-12's future existence is now more front and center than ever.Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark certainly isn't done.It is now set to have just nine teams in the conference at the start of the 2024-25 athletic season. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 returns to the negotiating table with one less member. The CU Board of Regents on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution to return to the Big 12, the conference the Buffaloes helped found in 1996, after 13 seasons in the Pac-12. Turns out Colorado had the ability, motivation, history and level of impatience to keep this conference realignment train rolling.Ĭolorado is back in the league it once called home for more than six decades. The Pac-12 school with the best options finally exercised them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |