Report: George Kliavkoff presents primary streaming deal with Apple TV to Pac-12 presidents
It has been over a year since George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 conference started shopping around in hopes of finding a new media rights deal. On Tuesday, that deal was finally presented to the conference presidents.
Per a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Kliavkoff presented the Pac-12 presidents and athletic directors with a primary streaming deal with Apple TV on Tuesday. The deal would have incentivized tiers for league members if certain subscription numbers were met for Apple, giving the deal a certain amount of upside, Thamel reports.
The potential deal was presented to conference presidents and chancellors, as well as athletic directors. The goal for the deal was to keep the remaining nine teams together — down from 12 after USC, UCLA, and Colorado all left for new conferences — with the hopes that the revenue generated from the deal would be enough to do so.
No decisions on the deal or any schools pondering other options are expected immediately. Campus leaders are digesting the possibilities of a stream-centric future and the variance in potential income. The money piece is tricky because of the variables of subscriptions.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 1, 2023
There is an expectation that the Pac-12 presidents will once again meet in the coming days to further discuss the deal, but no decisions have been made public at this time.
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 join the Big Ten when the current contracts with ESPN and Fox run out. The negotiations got more difficult for the Pac-12 last year when the Big 12 jumped the line and agreed to an extension with both ESPN and Fox that starts in 2025.
Going forward, the remaining schools in the Pac-9 will vote on whether or not to agree to the media rights deal and go forward with it.
