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Source tells Pac-12 columnist the league will get more money than Big 12

matt zemek
·6 min read
3

Big news broke on Sunday morning when the Big 12 Conference finalized its media rights package with ESPN and Fox Sports. The Big 12 earned more money per school than in its previous deal, fetching roughly $31.7 million per school for 12 member institutions once Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC.

As you know, Big 12 and Pac-12 fans and journalists have had plenty of vigorous debates over the past few months since USC and UCLA announced their Big Ten move on June 30. The Big 12 definitely exceeded industry expectations with this deal. Commissioner Brett Yormark clearly did well. Notions of a revenue decrease with OU and Texas gone did not materialize. Yormark refuted his critics, some of them in the Pac-12.

Now the Pac-12 and George Kliavkoff are under huge pressure to deliver a competitive package which stands up to the Big 12 and ensures that the Arizona schools, Utah, and Colorado have no temptation to leave the Pac for the Big 12.

One Pac-12 columnist thinks the conference will not only achieve that goal, but will actually fetch more money per school than the Big 12 will.

Let’s go through John Canzano’s argument and lay it out in full:

MARKET IS HOT

Canzano:

The market for live sports programming is hot. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark got the extension done early. Give him credit for doing what he promised he’d do.

THAT BEING THE CASE...

If the market is hot, it stands to reason that the Pac-12 will overachieve relative to expectations just as the Big 12 did. Canzano clearly thinks that.

THE MAIN POINT

Canzano:

It sounds like the Big 12 beat the Pac-12 to the finish line — but not the bottom line.

SOURCE!

From Canzano’s reporting:

The Big 12’s average per-school annual payout: $31.6 million.

“We are very confident to beat that number,” a Pac-12 source told me Sunday.

PREVIOUSLY

Canzano:

The Pac-12 is still negotiating. The original projections from industry sources placed the annual payouts in the range of $27 million to $29 million for the 10 remaining members. That would have put the Pac-12 Conference 10-15 percent below the Big 12.

But that was before Amazon and Apple waded into the fray.

AMAZON AND APPLE

Canzano:

Amazon and Apple want to be in the college live-sports programming space but neither has the infrastructure to produce games. Amazon uses the NFL Network for the Thursday Night Football production. The Pac-12 Networks already handles production of 36 football games.

THE NUMBERS

Canzano:

Maybe we should wait to see what happens, but it feels like the Pac-12 could land somewhere in the neighborhood of $32-34 million per school.

FOUR CORNERS SCHOOLS

Canzano:

I’ve long maintained that the Pac-12’s “Four Corners” schools (Utah, Colorado, Arizona, ASU) weren’t interested in leaving for the Big 12. It would be more of a lateral move, than anything. The figures we’re now seeing underscore that sentiment.

BIG 12 WANTED STABILITY

I suspect the Big 12’s strategy was to get stable. It preserves its relationship with ESPN and FOX. It can now turn the focus to trying to get its members to sign a long-term grant of rights. That’s a positive, given the landscape.

Now, it’s the Pac-12’s turn.

TWEETS

INDUSTRY PREDICTION

AMAZON - PAC-12 PARTNERSHIP

PAC-12 NETWORKS

NOTABLE

MORE DETAILS

THE LIMITS OF STREAMING

INTERESTING

TIER 3 RIGHTS IN BIG 12 DEAL

JON WILNER'S IDEA

LAYING OUT THE NUMBERS

MORE NUMBERS

ALSO THIS

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire