LOS ANGELES — The Pac-12’s month-long combat for survival might seep into the soccer season, and maybe deep into the season, because the forces of realignment ripple throughout the school panorama.
Survival, extinction, growth, partnerships — all the pieces hinges on the result of media rights negotiations within the Pac-12 and the Large Ten.
Commissioner George Kliavkoff provided context Friday on the Pac-12’s annual preseason media occasion on the Novo Theatre.
“To set expectations,” he mentioned, “this course of will speed up after the Large Ten offers are concluded and can possible take months to finish.”
There are two causes for the prolonged timeline.
— The Pac-12 is three weeks into an unique negotiating window with present companions ESPN and Fox that started in early July and is contracted for 30 days.
However each networks are additionally immersed in negotiations with the Large Ten that had been prolonged by the June 30 additions of USC and UCLA and are actually anticipated to conclude in August.
If inclined, the Pac-12 might agree to increase the unique 30-day window for ESPN and Fox past the contractual end-point in early August — a good-faith supply that will permit the networks to wrap up the Large Ten deal earlier than specializing in the Pac-12.
The delay might push the timeline for the Pac-12’s unique window into September.
— However even then, the convention would solely settle for a stellar supply from Fox or ESPN. In any other case, Kliavkoff will take the stock to the open market and permit different networks the chance to bid on Pac-12 rights.
“We have already got important curiosity from potential companions, together with each incumbents and new conventional tv and, most significantly, digital media companions,” he mentioned.
The outcomes of the Large Ten’s negotiations might affect the demand for Pac-12 content material amongst networks that obtain lower than their desired slice of the previous.
For example, if ESPN obtains a restricted quantity of Large Ten soccer, its curiosity within the Pac-12 might improve.
(The reverse can be true — and could be a nasty signal for the convention.)
If real curiosity within the Pac-12’s media rights exists past the 2 conventional companions, the open-market negotiations might final a number of months.
Kliavkoff struck an optimistic tone Friday in his first public feedback because the USC and UCLA information.
“With the worth of premium faculty sports activities rights persevering with to rise, a number of media companions and restricted alternatives, notably within the west,” he mentioned, “we're assured within the long-term worth of our rights.”
And there’s yet one more layer to think about: The convention is exploring growth.
If it identifies faculties that match competitively and institutionally — and if their media valuation clears the specified threshold — the convention might add no less than two members and maybe 4.
Which may prolong your entire course of effectively into the autumn.
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