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Pac-12 Media Rights Only Have One Place To Go

By Justin Phillips

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 05: A Pac-12 Conference logo is shown on the court before the Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament championship game between the Washington State Cougars and the UCLA Bruins at Michelob ULTRA Arena on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars defeated the Bruins 65-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 05: A Pac-12 Conference logo is shown on the court before the Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament championship game between the Washington State Cougars and the UCLA Bruins at Michelob ULTRA Arena on March 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars defeated the Bruins 65-61. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Oregon is working with the Pac-12 Conference on a new media rights deal. The work has been ongoing for the better part of a year and will take effect next summer, the summer of 2024. Two pieces of the current landscape will be gone in UCLA and USC. Both will take their respective place at the table in the Big Ten Conference.

A lot has been said already about other teams leaving the Pac-12, which has been quashed several times by the schools themselves. The Pac-12 would be smart to add a few teams to the mix and that is reportedly being worked on as well and could be a part of the new media rights package.

Arizona President Robert Robbins did not hold anything back when saying recently that USC and UCLA were a big loss and the Conference of Champions is now looking like the third place contestant at the party while looking up at both the SEC and Big Ten who already have their rights deals in place.

One area where the Pac-12 is strong is in their current leadership with Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff.

Explaining everything happening with Pac-12 media rights

Here’s the breakdown of what has already happened:

The Big Ten has a contract in place with FOX, CBS, and NBC. The contracts were signed back in August of 2022.

The SEC will move from CBS and ESPN to just ESPN and their respective family of networks that also includes ABC.

That leaves the Big 12, Pac 12, and ACC with what is left.

For the Pac-12 I believe it could mean a lucrative deal with a streaming service. There are plenty of options out there that would work for the 10 plus schools. Amazon Prime and Apple TV are the first that come to mind. Amazon showed football can be done with a Thursday night NFL package starting in 2022. At this point and this late in the game, a streaming service would also have more inventory for broadcast time than possibly a traditional source that has a contract with another conference.

Time will tell and a new Pac-12 contract is likely to be announced sooner rather than later. I expect us all to know where we can watch our teams in the coming weeks.

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