Pac-12 board meeting was 'positive and productive,' per report
Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented the conference’s presidents and chancellors several options for the league’s next media rights contract on Tuesday. The primary deal put in front of the league’s board would reportedly see most of the inventory go to Apple for streaming.
According to The Mercury News’ Jon Wilner, Tuesday’s meeting was “positive and productive.”
Presidents will reportedly meet again soon, but ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that there are not expected to be any “imminent decisions” regarding whether the deal Kliavkoff presented on Tuesday will be enough to keep Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah in the fold.
The Arizona Board of Regents met Tuesday afternoon, but the public portion of that previously-unscheduled meeting lasted just long enough for a call to order before the board moved into a closed executive session.
For months, the benchmark that Kliavkoff has needed to at least reach is $31.7 million. That’s what Big 12 schools will see, on average, when that league’s new TV deal begins in 2025.
The Big 12 has already taken Colorado, and it has long been reported the Arizona schools and Utah are also targets.
According to Thamel, the potential deal with Apple would be backloaded with a caveat. The deal, expected to be a short-term one, would “incrementally improve and potentially be competitive” with the Big 12 and ACC later on in the contract if “certain subscription numbers are met.”
Here’s his SportsCenter hit discussing the meeting and the deal:
"The [Apple] deal is a primary streaming deal…the money, although initially may be below where the Big 12 is expected to start…there's potential through subscriptions via Apple TV to go past that Big 12 number." – Pete Thamel pic.twitter.com/tCby263NNK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 1, 2023
The future might be streaming-based — with Disney planning to soon take ESPN directly to streaming — but the Pac-12 would be breaking ground with a deal with Apple.
It’s not immediately clear what percent of games would land on streaming and what would be held for linear TV. To what extent will ESPN be involved? Could FOX get back involved if it was for a late-night window?
Those questions are almost certainly being asked by university leadership throughout what remains of the Pac-12.