Pac-12 downfall: Professor reportedly developed healthy TV valuation, but 'ESPN did not react very well to it'
There are several reasons for why the Pac-12 collapsed, but one aspect was revealed in an LA Times report from J. Brady McCollough.
This centered on the Pac-12 media rights negotiations, and how the conference was valued. Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff brought the schools an ESPN offer of $30 million per school annually for all of their rights.
An analysis by the league found that it would be in the mid-$30-million range, and after some negotiations, the 2 sides would settle around $35 million.
However, when the Pac-12 CEO group met to discuss the offer, one of the league presidents had other ideas. The president worked with a professor on his campus to come up with their own estimate of what the 10 schools should get based on their market value: $50 million.
“George and our media consultant were pretty clear there was some risk, but they said, ‘Nope, our numbers show we’re worth this, go ask for it,’” a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations not authorized to speak publicly about them told The Times. “… ESPN did not react very well to it.”
Given the stakes of negotiations, McCollough reported that a source said Kliavkoff should have been more forceful pushing back against the high counteroffer.
Before Oregon and Washington left for the Big Ten, and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah left for the Big 12, the latest offer from Apple, according to the Associated Press, guaranteed yearly payouts of between $23-25 million to each Pac-12 member school, with escalators based on subscriptions to the Pac-12 package.