Pac-12 expert evaluates the odds of the conference striking a TV deal with the ACC
The Pac-12 and the ACC are highly unlikely to merge. Mergers appear to be off the board as realistic outcomes in college sports realignment after a lot of speculation in early July. However, television agreements between conferences — a way of not only creating revenue and scheduling slots, but strengthening bonds between conferences so that their futures are tied together — seem very possible.
Tying the fates of two conferences together means, among other things, that each conference adds protection against future potential attempts at poaching. This is what the Pac-12 failed to do in relationship to the Big Ten, which swooped in and plucked both USC and UCLA.
This is why a multi-conference TV arrangement makes sense.
Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline had this to say:
Odds of some kind of TV deal between the Pac-12 and the ACC? — @bfedotin
Pretty good … perhaps better than 50/50.
ESPN could create a media partnership based on each league’s Tier 3 infrastructure, combining the ACC Network with the Pac-12 Network to create more subscribers, and revenue.
For all their problems with distribution, the Pac-12 Networks are on the cutting edge with their remote broadcast technology.
We wrote about that recently, too.
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