Pac-12 leaders set to meet, receive details of potential media rights deal, AP source says
The Pac-12 logo is shown at Sun Devil Stadium during the second half of an NCAA college football game between Arizona State and Kent State in Tempe, Ariz., Aug. 29, 2019. Colorado is leaving the Pac-12 to return to the conference the Buffaloes jilted a dozen years ago, and the Big 12 celebrated the reunion with a two-word statement released through Commissioner Brett Yomark: “They’re back.” Credit: AP/Ralph Freso
Pac-12 leaders are scheduled to meet this week and Commissioner George Kliavkoff is expected to present the members with details of a long-awaited and critical potential media rights deal, a person familiar with the conference’s plans told The Associated Press on Monday.
The meeting is set for Tuesday for presidents and chancellors, along with athletic directors, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Pac-12 is not publicly addressing its internal discussions. The meeting, which was first reported by Oregon-based sports blogger John Canzano, comes less than a week after Colorado announced it was leaving the Pac-12 after this year and re-joining the Big 12.
Pac-12 leaders have mostly been steadfast — at least publicly — that they want to keep the conference together and were cautiously optimistic the league's next media rights deal would provide enough revenue to do so.
Kilavkoff has been pursuing a new deal to replace the ones that expire in 2024 since Southern California and UCLA announced a little more than a year ago that they will to join the Big Ten when the current contracts with ESPN and Fox run out. Meanwhile, the Big 12 swooped in last fall and agreed to an extension that kicks with the two networks that starts in 2025.
"We’re on track to announce our deals at about the same time everyone would have anticipated and predicted before conference realignment,” Kliavkoff said at Pac-12 football media day two weeks ago in Las Vegas. “Patience will be rewarded.”
With Colorado's planned departure, the Pac-12 is down to nine still-committed members. If Kliavkoff can't deliver a deal that gets close to the $31 million per year the Big 12's contract is expected to pay its members there could be more defections.
“Each of us will make our own independent analysis,” Arizona President Robert C. Robbins said in June. “I’m hopeful that the deal is going to be good enough to keep us together.”
___
Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com
