If this was the deal that Kliavkoff had up his sleeves the whole time, it’s no wonder he kept pushing off telling the schools about it. Not only that, but other networks now know that’s the best he can get and he’s unlikely to get much more from other networks since the league looks desperate. I am very curious what Wash and UO are thinking rn, but I’m sure AZ is ready to jump if the coach is calling recruits to keep them interested in staying with their commitments.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Rumor is it was with Apple, and involves "tiers" based on subscriber numbers. That has worked out okay for MLS, due to lower expectations as a semi-major "butts in seats" league, and, oh yeah, a little dude named Lionel frickin' Messi.
Messi is not signing for Wazzu.
Oregon's beat writer, James Crepea, just tweeted that "Multiple Pac-12 ADs told me this winter/spring streaming only was not acceptable."
I think Stewart Mandel said it best, "Larry Scott sold the schools on the Pac-12 Network based on how much revenue they could hit based on low/medium/high subscriber projections. It turned out to be below low. Hard to imagine the schools making another risky bet on a newish platform."
I think the SEC can get away with pioneering something like this, maybe the Big Ten. I don't see it working for the Pac.
I wonder how much Oregon and Washington are involved. I wouldn't be surprised if they're hoping for a bad deal so that they PAC collapses and they can try to get into the B1G.
If the Big 10 wants Oregon and Washington then they would have taken them with UCLA and USC. I just don’t see how the conference falling apart benefits them when they aren’t guaranteed anything.
UO and UW definitely want to have that linear exposure, and it sounds like there won't be much of that with this deal. I don't know how either of them would sign this deal, even if they didn't care about the money, and even if they had to wait some years to join the B1G if that's an option.
I’ve always thought that it wasn’t so much that OUT left that was the problem, culturally speaking. I think the problem was that the rest of the B12 was in cruise control knowing they were in a a conference with two blue bloods.
The nuB12 could handle UO and UW planning an exit, they just shouldn’t panic about it. Hold them to the same rules as everyone else, don’t give them outsized influence, and in a few years run projections on the next media deal without them. If they only stick around for one media deal, then so be it, but no reduced exit fees or letting them not sign a normal GoR or anything else weird. If they’re available it’s because the B1G doesn’t want them, same as everybody else. If that changes, then it changes LATER.