SBJ College: Pac-12 pleased with emerging media landscape

The buzz around the Pac-12 is more upbeat than it has been since Southern Cal and UCLA said they’re leaving. That’s because ESPN is out of the bidding for Big Ten media rights, and the Pac-12 is up next.

ESPN’s exit from the Big Ten proceedings generated two reactions. 1) Both of the Pac-12’s incumbents, ESPN and Fox, have needs and resources. That’s a position the Pac-12 or any conference wants to be in. 2) There are non-incumbents with needs and resources, too, whether that’s Apple, Amazon or some other player. SMA’s Doug Perlman is consulting with the Pac-12.

There’s one other scenario to contemplate and that’s what this means for the ACC. If the ACC and Pac-12 are serious about forming some type of merger that results in a coast-to-coast conference, this might be the opportunity to make it happen. That kind of tonnage would go a long way toward filling ESPN/ABC windows and providing more content for ESPN+.

One thing’s for sure when conferences realign: Media consultants are going to get paid.

One year ago, the Pac-12 was going through an exhaustive study to determine if the conference should expand, a scenario that included picking off some Big 12 schools in the bloody aftermath of Texas and Oklahoma leaving.

Endeavor media consultants Karen Brodkin and Hillary Mandel worked with the Pac-12 to evaluate more than two dozen potential expansion targets before the conference ultimately decided to stand pat.

Now, the Big 12 is going through a similar exercise and its media consultants are Endeavor’s Brodkin and Mandel.

Part of the research as the Pac-12 explores its future is evaluating the media value of the schools. For example, during the 2016-2020 football seasons, Pac-12 schools, minus Southern Cal and UCLA, averaged 1.45 million viewers. Big 12 schools, minus Texas and Oklahoma, averaged 951,000 viewers.

That data could go a long way toward understanding why Pac-12 schools, thus far, have decided to stay put rather than flip over to the Big 12, and why the Big 12 has pursued Pac-12 schools so aggressively.

CBS is expected to finish the final year of its SEC deal in 2023 before moving over to the Big Ten the following year.

When Big Ten media rights are finalized in the coming days, its new package will begin with the 2023 football season. CBS will have the 3:30pm slot, just as it did with the SEC, but it is still under contract with the SEC in 2023, creating a potential schedule conflict. I’m told that CBS will finish out its deal with the SEC.

CBS is paying $55 million for its SEC package, but it will pay $350 million for its Big Ten package. How the Big Ten will handle that 3:30pm window in 2023 remains to be seen, but it’s not hard to do the math on CBS’s next move. There’s every reason to believe it will finish out the SEC deal.

When ESPN won the “CBS package” of SEC games, it agreed to pay $300 million for the annual rights fee to 15 first-tier games. CBS, the incumbent, pulled out when the price got too high. That was in December 2019.

Here we are three years later and CBS is on the verge of paying $350 million for a similar piece of the Big Ten media rights package. But that doesn’t necessarily mean CBS places a higher value on the Big Ten over the SEC. It’s more about the circumstances at the time.

CBS was convinced during its SEC negotiations that the conference favored ESPN and planned to go in that direction unless CBS paid a significantly higher number. ESPN already had the SEC’s other rights and that package of 15 games was the last piece of the puzzle for ESPN to own all of the SEC’s rights. CBS knew that, too, and decided to pull out.

Retired Fox Sports President Bob Thompson has established quite a voice of authority on Twitter by analyzing the conference shakeups and media rights deals that are dominating the news in college athletics.

Here are a few of his recent takes, just from today:

• “Nobody has said anything about men's basketball! Where is that all going to end up? ESPN was the tonnage carrier for the conference. Big Ten/ACC challenge? Is that going to be a casualty?”

• “I'm not getting the impression that Fox added games with the new Big Ten deal. Based on that I would guess they would still like a Big 12 or Pac 12 deal but not both....unless the price is right.”

• “And if ESPN does not get any of the Big Ten we’ll see if they regret it for years. But it still just a business decision. You can’t own everything.”

• “Usually, a conference won't leak that someone is out as they want the other bidders to believe someone could still steal their package at the 11th hour. ESPN leaking that they were out was one final parting shot at Big Ten. It's how the game is played.”

Dynamic Pricing Partners lists the top “get-in” prices for college football games during Week 1. All times are local. Games are on Sat., Sept. 3 unless otherwise noted.

1. $350 - Notre Dame-Ohio State, 6:30 PM, Ohio Stadium
2. $320 - North Carolina-Appalachian State, 12:00 PM, Kidd Brewer Stadium
3. $225 - West Virginia- Pitt, Thursday, 7:00 PM, Acrisure Stadium (Thurs., Sept. 1)
4. $218 - Arizona-San Diego State, 12:30 PM, Snapdragon Stadium
5. $200 - Nebraska-Northwestern, 5:30 PM, Aviva Stadium (Sat., Aug. 27 in Dublin)
6. $160 - Oregon-Georgia, 3:30 PM, Mercedes-Benz Stadium
7. $155 - Vanderbilt-Hawai'i, 5:30 PM, Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex
8. $116 - Virginia Tech-Old Dominion, 7:00 PM, S.B. Ballard Stadium (Fri., Sept. 2)

• In this week's magazine, I profiled John Swofford, the latest member of the 2022 class of SBJ Champions. His legacy touched all aspects of college athletics from player to administrator, but he’ll be forever linked to the ACC’s network and expansion.

• This year's SBJ Game Changer honorees are out now. Among the execs with influence in the college space on the list are: Ohio University AD Julie Cromer, Learfield SVP, University Partnership Group Sarah Davis, Atlantic 10 Executive Senior Associate Commissioner Jill Redmond and Big Ten Deputy Commissioner and Chief Sports Officer Diana Sabau.

• iTrustCapital has become the official crypto platform of the USC Trojans under a new deal that will give the brand a strong presence through banners, on-site activations and additional advertisements for the football and basketball seasons.

• The Big Ten is launching a foundation that will serve as the charitable arm of the conference.