Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Too bad Pac-12 football cannot generate the amount of widespread attention the conference is getting as it continues negotiations for new television deals.
The conference is often an afterthought during the season, trailing Power Five counterparts in publicity each week on all national television shows that discuss college football. Aside from a few games sprinkled throughout the season, the primary networks usually focus more on the likes of the traditional powers in the Big Ten and SEC.
But these last few months have been all about the Pac-12 and an impending announcement on television contracts beginning with the 2024 football season. Media members from around the country have tapped into sources virtually begging for any scrap of (mis)information to pass along.
Despite a new angle breaking seemingly every day, speculation is running rampant in the quest to be on the inside. Decipher fact from faction at your own risk.
What's it going to be — a mixture of ESPN and a streaming service? The latest reports for the Pac-12 include a potential unequal revenue sharing and signing with Amazon, the ION network or Apple TV. At this rate, it seems like every channel this side of C-SPAN is in play.
There's also talk of expansion, with San Diego State and Southern Methodist speculated as the leading candidates to replace — at least numerically, anyway — the two Los Angeles schools that will depart to the Big Ten this summer. And then there is the Big 12 lurking in the distance, apparently ready to poach Pac-12 schools interested in moving to a more stable conference, which Big 12 members would lead us to believe.
What's it all mean for the locals?
For BYU, after, at times, struggling as an independent in football, Big 12 membership provides security the athletic department hasn't enjoyed in more than a decade since leaving the Mountain West. BYU fans are giddy over joining the new affiliation this summer and at the possible upheaval of Utah's conference.
For the Utes, hold on tight to the Pac-12 staying intact with or without two additions. BYU officials would welcome Utah to its new conference, but the Big 12 leadership may view expanding into the Pacific time zone as a higher priority. Utah, which would be an excellent addition to the Big 12, has pledged allegiance to the Pac-12 while eyeing Big Ten expansion.
With an insight at a premium, probably nobody on the outside can report with a certainty. Maybe the conference itself can't say for sure.
Hopefully, the Pac-12 soon will announce its television affiliations and put to rest all the guessing, educated or otherwise. Not that any signed deals would completely quell future expansion speculation.
Appearing on a Bonneville sports radio station in Phoenix last week, Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson offered a speck of insight on the new television associations. He anticipates an announcement in the coming weeks, possibly at a lower amount of money than originally expected.
"Certainly, we're all anxious to have something resolved here in the next couple, three weeks, so we can take the next steps and get some of this speculation out of the air in regard to what other conferences may be thinking in terms of trying to pick off Pac-10 teams, if you will, and what we may do in terms of adding institutions," Anderson said. "Getting a media rights deal will clear the air for figuring out some of that other stuff."
Even then, with media rights partners on board, the new Pac-12 still could be ripe for the picking. Down the line, the Big Ten, again, could come calling once the conference finds a way for networks to pony up more money to add schools out west in addition to USC and UCLA.
Any Big Ten or Big 12 expansion that raids the Pac-12 would result in serious trouble for any schools not included. The collateral damage could lead to the demise of the Pac-12, notwithstanding the conference's recent statement saying the remaining 10 members were committed to stay together.
"If anyone thinks the Big Ten isn't coming back for more, they're not following along," a source told the website Saturday Out West last week.
