On a recent episode of “The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” New York Post media columnist Andrew Marchand said the Pac-12 is currently “hundreds of millions of dollars apart” with ESPN in negotiations for the league’s next media rights deal.

“The Pac-12 and ESPN, hundreds of millions of dollars apart,” Marchand said. “They are not even close. That is going to be interesting where that goes in terms of negotiations. And will teams jump? When you’re that far apart, that means something has to happen. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, I don’t have any information on this, but something that’s just conjecture: do one of the digital players get involved with the Pac-12?

“Apple, for example, loves to buy everything and then sell subscriptions. They did it with the MLS. The Pac-12 just had this problem of not being… with the Pac-12 Network, you couldn’t find it and its obviously not as successful as the ones that partnered with FOX or ESPN. But, money talks, and if Apple can make the case, ‘We’re going to pay you,’ they can bundle and get the money they’re looking for, maybe they come into the picture.”

Marchand said the issue is leverage.

Surprise, surprise.

With USC and UCLA bolting to the Big Ten in 2024, and the threat of other teams throughout the league following suit and jumping to another conference — be it the Big Ten or Big 12 — the Pac-12 is in a tough spot. Commissioner George Kliavkoff and the league are still early in the process of negotiating the next deal, and several pointed out that Marchand’s comments could be construed as talking points from ESPN intended to send a message.

Bob Thompson, the former Fox Sports Networks president, said as such.

SBJ’s John Ourand went on to say he would be “gobsmacked” if ESPN didn’t eventually do a deal with the Pac-12.

The prospect of the Pac-12 splitting its media rights up and doing a deal with ESPN and an emerging digital partner like Amazon or Apple has been out there for months.

Amazon was reportedly willing to pay in excess of $350 million to get in on the Big Ten’s recent deal. Instead, the Big Ten went with a combination of FOX, CBS, and NBC. While the tech giant might not value the Pac-12 at the same number, it has still made a heavy push into the football space in recent years.

Apple also recently announced a 10-year, $2.5 billion deal with the MLS.

Longtime Pac-12 insider John Canzano wrote about the possibility of either jumping into the fold on Thursday:

The Pac-12 could settle into third or fourth or fifth position among the major conferences and sign a traditional media-rights deal. Or it could do something that nobody else in college football is doing — go big with Amazon and/or Apple. Or maybe the conference blends one of the streaming services with ESPN. At the very least, the threat of going with Amazon/Apple foster some badly needed leverage for the Pac-12.