berserkeley said:
To recap the worst week in Pac-10/12's history ... so far:
Kliavkoff visited SDSU and SMU because rumors are that there isn't enough money to ink a media rights deal without expansion first.
Those same rumors suggest that the Pac will need to add these schools just to reach a $30 million per team payout that relies heavily on streaming rather than linear networks. It is nearly universally regarded that a streaming deal of X dollars is worth less than a linear deal for the same amount.
The Big XII just landed an additional $100 million in buyout money from Texas and Oklahoma that they will use to aggressively pursue expansion. Money they could potentially use the poach the four corner schools. And Yormark suddenly has a newfound interest in SDSU and SMU. The Big XII seems motivated to driving the Pac out of business and Yormark appears to be outflanking Kliavkoff.
All of that combined with Kevin Warren's departure to the NFL, any prospects of a Big Ten West Coast pod any time soon seems to have left with him.
Suddenly the prospects of the Pac surviving this round of conference expansion are a little dimmer and if the conference does survive, it will probably be with a deal that makes no one happy and the worst deal of the P5 conferences.
A couple of things to add to this...*The Big XII beat Kliavkoff to market on their media deal, which has limited Pac-12 options in terms of broadcast partners while also setting the market for media rights $$$.
*Internal audits revealed that under Larry Scott, the Pac-12 overcharged Comcast $50 million dollars and are now on the hook for that $$$
*Kliavkoff told Pac-12 member institutions they could expect $40 million per school in this next deal. It's now looking closer to $30 million. Lot of unhappy people at that news. Confidence in GK is waning.
*Kliavkoff has 4 schools in his camp. Cal, Stanford, Washington State and Oregon State. All four really need the league to remain as is (or with SDSU and SMU) due to what they see as a murky future in a post Pac-12 world and a lack of good options down the road. For instance, Wazzu and Oregon St. are Mountain West bound if the league falls apart.
*6 schools... Oregon, UW, Four Corners... are extremely unhappy with current leadership of the league, Not coincidentally, those 6 schools see a possible future with B1G and/or Big XII. None of the 6 is currently willing to sign any long term Grant of Rights.
*Oregon and Washington want a bigger slice of the new league media rights deal. Oregon/UW also extremely skeptical of streaming and Amazon as a significant part of overall deal, in terms of both $$$ and exposure. Both schools are waiting on news of the next B1G commissioner to see where they stand with that league. If it's Jim Phillips from the ACC, further westward expansion may be off the table. Oregon/UW do not want to sign any long term Grant of Rights.
*Four Corners refusing to give in on UO/UW getting a larger $ share, any long term GOR that would lock them into the Pac-12 and continue to see a soft landing spot in the Big XII.
*SI's Ross Dellenger says Brett Yormark and the Big XII have an interest in SMU, and may get aggressive again in expansion. Have to think they'd look hard at some or all of the Four Corner schools. Would they aggressively pursue Oregon? Stay tuned...
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