lownslowav8r No. 1 Share Posted February 10, 2023 From The Athletic: "Three people with knowledge of the discussions said commissioner George Kliavkoff is struggling to find partners willing to pay close to what the league is seeking. Two of those sources said Kliavkoff overpromised his members on how many bidders there would be and what dollar amount they could command — a target north of $40 million per school, according to one league athletic director. Today, it’s uncertain whether the Pac-12 will even be able to exceed the $31.6 million average the Big 12 reportedly landed in a six-year extension with ESPN and Fox it reached last fall. “(We) don’t have a deal because it hasn’t been good,” said the AD." What we're hearing on Pac-12 expansion, SMU, the Big 12 and more THEATHLETIC.COM The latest on why the Pac-12 might need to add schools such as San Diego State and SMU and what the Big 12 needs to do to move forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pennsylvania Duck Moderator No. 2 Share Posted February 10, 2023 Pac-12 "struggling to find partners" for media rights deal Playing the waiting game is appearing to come back and bite the Pac-12 On the expansion side, it appears that San Diego State and SMU are the top candidates to join the conference and may happen sooner rather than later. The piece that was always holding the conference back from expanding was the media rights deal, something that according to The Athletic, is not going well for the conference. The report explained that the Pac-12 is not finding success to find someone willing to pay what they were hoping. Despite the timetable being media rights first then expansion, the article also says there is a possibility expansion will have to happen first in order to know how much money can be made. As this saga continues on, it is safe to say two things. One, Larry Scott is still haunting the Pac-12 despite not being an employee anymore, and secondly, George Kliavkoff's lack of aggression may really hurt the conference in the long run. As The Athletic is a pay site, I wasn't able to read the posted article above but I believe this is what it is about. Doesn't sound good for the Pac-12... Click to read the article here in All Cardinal FanNation. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Joseph Moderator No. 3 Share Posted February 10, 2023 If the conference was a public company I definitely would be selling the stock short. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 4 Share Posted February 10, 2023 The problem right now is that I do think prospects for the conference and top teams for the conference do expand once the playoff expands. But waiting until that point is not ideal. What would probably the conference's best hope right now is a short deal right now with the prospect of a bigger deal after the playoff expansion takes place. This does have a lot of problems with it though... basically taking a smaller payout now rather than trying to lock in something bigger and better for the long term. It also means that if other schools look to jump conferences they wouldn't have to wait as long in order to do so. The Pac-12 is improving in football at a pretty rapid pace. The bottom isn't as bad as it has been in the past and the conference is getting more teams ranked, even when excluding the two LA programs. But the conference needs time to continue to up its profile and get into the playoff. I think Oregon actually has a decent shot at the playoff this next season and depending on the timeline that this media deal needs to reach it may be worth waiting as long as possible to show the conference's potential... but I don't think they have that kind of time. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kamikaze Kid Moderator No. 5 Share Posted February 10, 2023 I think the biggest problem the Pac has is that the leaders of the Pac never thought there was a problem. The next problem was that the new commissioner didn't recognize the scope of the problem soon enough at the beginning of his reign. Now, all options appear to fall into the too little too late category with no real positive solutions to be found. I feel the Pac presidents are getting what they deserve for being way too out of touch with the current sports landscape for way too long. Unfortunately it will now come at a cost to west coast sports fans, athletes and the schools themselves. 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
idontrollonshobbas No. 6 Share Posted February 10, 2023 The mindset of the Pac-12 leadership, especially at the institutional level, is not now, nor has it been historically one of athletics growth. The focus has been almost exclusively on academics, with athletics as a delightful side dish to the main meal. The Jell-O mold salad with cottage cheese, if you are inclined to go with the metaphor. The other conferences have had more balance in terms of interest in both athletics and academics which means they have had a better strategy since forever to capitalize on the growth opportunities. Pac-12 boosters have funded athletics, but they don't have the political heft to move strategy at the admin and conference levels. Once a bureaucracy congeals into a status quo, it is tough to drive change dynamics outside of an exogenous catastrophic event. Maybe this will be it, and folks will demand excellence, or the Pac-10 is destined for shrinkage and loss of prestige. The Dakotas will be playing better college football than the left coast before too long if we just keep trundling along. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noDucknewby No. 7 Share Posted February 10, 2023 GK is in a tough spot. His previously stated timeline of TV deal first then expansion has almost certainly been upended by ESPN/Amazon, the latter of which is likely not the deep-pocketed sugar daddy we were hoping for. Unfortunately we're not going to get an open-ended deal like the B1G got. There's no way we would seriously be considering SMU for expansion if we were negotiating from a position of strength. It's ESPN/Amazon driving the bus and all they want is inventory and eyeballs. The talk of the P12(10) standing pat at 10 members and getting a decent TV deal before expansion appears to just be wishful thinking at this point. Agree with David Marsh, we're fighting this war on two fronts. We have to salvage the conference and the TV deal in the short term while keeping our options open after the playoff is expanded and the next round of conference cannibalism begins. Apparently that's a very fine line. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 8 Share Posted February 10, 2023 We need to go to the Big10, I know people on here have been talking about becoming the Clemson of the west coast, personally I want to play good teams, I don't want to beat up on a hugely weakened conference that can't compete on a monetary level, campaign hard on bringing UW, Cal, and Stanford to come with us, the rest of the Pac can join with the Big12. It sucks, but this is not going the way people hoped. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 9 Share Posted February 10, 2023 Considering the Arizona schools are actually a better fit with the BIG-12 anyways, I think we are pretty close to the end of the line. ASU is already pissed off about having most of the content on streaming. Now the dollars are not coming in on top of it. If the PAC-12 cannot get a media deal that is on par with the current BIG-12 deal, I fully expect the two AZ teams to jump ship in the next month or two. The Pac-12 continues to make the same mistake over and over again. Sitting on your hands DOES NOT work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 10 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 10:54 AM, noDucknewby said: The talk of the P12(10) standing pat at 10 members and getting a decent TV deal before expansion appears to just be wishful thinking at this point. I don't think the conference was going to sit at 10 teams no matter what. I think San Diego State was always in line for addition, and I say this even if the LA schools didn't defect. It might have been slower but in the end I think SDSU joining the Pac is something that is inevitable. SDSU will add value to the conference over time. SMU, Colorado State, Utah State, Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV, and Nevada though... those are all schools that are far more difficult to determine their value to the conference. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noDucknewby No. 11 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 11:42 AM, David Marsh said: I don't think the conference was going to sit at 10 teams no matter what. I think San Diego State was always in line for addition, and I say this even if the LA schools didn't defect. It might have been slower but in the end I think SDSU joining the Pac is something that is inevitable. SDSU will add value to the conference over time. SMU, Colorado State, Utah State, Boise State, Fresno State, UNLV, and Nevada though... those are all schools that are far more difficult to determine their value to the conference. I agree, my point was that GK's stated timeline has now apparently been nixed. A new TV deal for the 10 existing members would put us in more of a position of strength when negotiating with potential expansion candidates. SMU wants in a Power 5 conference in a big way, but now that they know we're desperate we have way less bargaining power. Same goes for SDSU which has already hinted it might look at the B12. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirklandduck Moderator No. 12 Share Posted February 10, 2023 It always struck me as strange that they would try and negotiate a media deal BEFORE expansion. That just means you're trapped in a weak position during the talks. Expansion should have happened first and very quickly last year IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
2002duck No. 13 Share Posted February 10, 2023 First of all, I'm sure some of you may have noticed that I keep hammering home that Oregon and UW need to go to the B1G as soon as possible. And that remains the same. Until that day comes (in 3 or 4 years?), I think it may be worth adding Boise St. to the Pac, but only for football and basketball. Either way, the goose is cooked. UO and UW are going to the B1G and AZ/ASU are going to the Big-12. When? I don't know. I'm curious if UO and UW will accept a very short rental contract in the Big-12 until the B1G wakes up from their slumber. The Big-12 will surely accept us for a short GOR. Right? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 14 Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 12:22 PM, 2002duck said: UO and UW are going to the B1G and AZ/ASU are going to the Big-12. Your opinion, and that's fine. This is not certain, and if so, it is.... 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noDucknewby No. 15 Share Posted February 10, 2023 (edited) Well at least it's not a boring off-season. Edited February 10, 2023 by noDucknewby 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lownslowav8r Author No. 16 Share Posted February 11, 2023 I think we are seeing GK’s learning curve. This is twice he been a bit passive. (1) trusting a handshake agreement with sharks and not working for something stronger —and I include the backstabbing USC administration among the sharks— and (2) thinking slow playing this was to our advantage. I don’t think moving to another conference is even possible right now or even to our benefit. Any move at this point would be seen as desperation and priced accordingly. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
