Big news broke on Sunday morning when the Big 12 Conference finalized its media rights package with ESPN and Fox Sports. The Big 12 earned more money per school than in its previous deal, fetching roughly $31.7 million per school for 12 member institutions once Oklahoma and Texas leave for the SEC.
As you know, Big 12 and Pac-12 fans and journalists have had plenty of vigorous debates over the past few months since USC and UCLA announced their Big Ten move on June 30. The Big 12 definitely exceeded industry expectations with this deal. Commissioner Brett Yormark clearly did well. Notions of a revenue decrease with OU and Texas gone did not materialize. Yormark refuted his critics, some of them in the Pac-12.
Now the Pac-12 and George Kliavkoff are under huge pressure to deliver a competitive package which stands up to the Big 12 and ensures that the Arizona schools, Utah, and Colorado have no temptation to leave the Pac for the Big 12.
One Pac-12 columnist thinks the conference will not only achieve that goal, but will actually fetch more money per school than the Big 12 will.
Let’s go through John Canzano’s argument and lay it out in full: