Pac-12 media day is Friday. On our weekly show with Mark Rogers at The Voice of College Football, we previewed what might happen. Since we recorded the show on Monday night, fresh news has emerged. It slightly changes the parameters of the preview, but not dramatically.
Let’s catch up before we lead into our show with Mark on his USC YouTube channel.
On Tuesday, two important stories broke, three if you want to parse them more finely.
The first story is that the Mountain West Conference accepted San Diego State as a member school without demanding a $16.5 million exit fee. This resolved (temporarily) the confusion surrounding San Diego State officially leaving the Mountain West.
The second story from Tuesday with relevance for the Pac-12 and its media day was the report by ESPN that a Pac-12 media deal will be completed in the “near future.” That report was accompanied by widespread reports that the Pac-12 won’t announce any media rights deal on or before Pac-12 media day.
Many will say that the Pac-12 not having an announcement on Pac-12 media day is a defeat for the conference. However, ESPN reporting complete with Pac-12 sourcing suggests that ESPN has proximity to the situation, which means a delay in the finalization of a deal is unlikely to hurt the Pac-12’s relationship with ESPN and any other TV or streaming partners.
Yes, we said it would be ideal for the Pac-12 if it finalized its media rights package by Pac-12 media day, but the absolute requirement was to be close enough on a deal — with agreeable terms or clearly positive progress — that member schools would be happy with the situation and therefore disinclined to bolt for the Big 12 or anywhere else.
It appears that is the case. However, the lack of finalization offers the possibility that an unexpected plot twist could throw a monkey wrench into everything.
Let’s go back to our show with Mark Rogers. The one thing we said on the show which seems particularly noteworthy after Tuesday’s news developments is that the Pac-12 is probably going to emerge with a media rights deal which does not have San Diego State or SMU football inventory in 2024. The Pac-12 will have 10 schools in 2024 and split media rights revenues 10 ways, so that the 10 schools get a larger cut. The plan is likely for SDSU and SMU to join in 2025 and provide the increased inventory the Pac-12 will need on a long-term basis.
Here’s our show with Mark, previewing Pac-12 media day and more at The Voice of College Football:
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