Utah president Taylor Randall said during an appearance on ESPN 700 Monday that he believes the right people are at the table in the Pac-12’s ongoing media rights negotiations, that the 10 remaining Pac-12 schools have “solidarity” with one another to keep the conference together, and that there isn’t concern about how long the negotiations have taken to this point.

Randall spoke to ESPN 700’s Bill Riley, talking about the topic that has dominated headlines across college sports really since USC and UCLA announced last summer they were leaving the conference. Shortly after that groundbreaking news, the Pac-12 opened an exclusive negotiating window with its incumbent media partners on its next deal. The league is still in talks to secure its next deal.

In the months since, the Pac-12’s future has been discussed ad nauseam. Will it survive? Will it produce a TV contract that can rival the Big 12’s and make staying in the league viable for the 10 teams left behind?

Arizona President Robert C. Robbins made a round of media interviews last week during which he relayed the message the Pac-12 is going to be fine. Among other things, he said he expects the Pac-12 deal to be better than the one the Big 12 signed.

“I think we’re all optimistic like Bobby is,” Randall said Monday when asked about Robbins’ comments. “We’ve got a lot of value in our conference.”

Utah and Arizona are part of the ‘Four Corners’ schools in the Pac-12 — also including Arizona State and Colorado — who have reportedly been the main target of Big 12 expansion. Everyone believes the Big 12 to be interested. Whether that interest is reciprocated has been a topic of debate.

Mostly, it’ll come down to the numbers that Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff puts in front of the league’s presidents and chancellors. Here’s what Randall had to say to ESPN 700 on that front:

“I think first thing’s first, we feel like there’s still tremendous value in the 10 teams remaining in the Pac-12. We have a strong, strong set of brands. The way I think about the value of the league — and what comes out of the value of these contracts — is you’ve gotta have three things. First, you’ve gotta have strong brands, which we have. Second, you’ve got to make an argument these brands are actually gonna win and create great matchups. And if you look at our league next year … I think even leaving SC and UCLA out you’ve got four teams that are probably ranked in the Top 25. Any time you have Top 25 teams playing, that creates viewership, so our value goes up there.

“Then the final big component is do you have the right distribution for your games? Are you talking with the right media partners? We’re in the middle of negotiations. I can’t reveal much about those, but I’m confident we have the right people at the table. I think they’re seeing the value in our league the same way we’re seeing it. You’d always like to have an agreement sooner rather than later, but, as I’d remind you, but for the events of last summer, we would be starting our media negotiations right now. 

“I think we’re in a good spot. I like what I’m hearing coming out of our commissioner’s office and where the negotiations are. We’ve still got a ways to go, but I think you’ve got some solidarity with the remaining schools — and in the presidents room in particular.”

When might a deal come? That’s still up in the air. But Randall pushed back on the narrative that the Pac-12’s talks have gone on longer than expected.

“I don’t think we’ve had any serious expectations that it should have been done by now. We’ve all felt all along that we were going to be patient and make sure that we add the deal that works for us and preserves the long-term value of our conference. I guess I’d probably just say we feel like we’re in a really good spot right now and it’s progressing well.”

You can hear the rest of the interview below:

Listen to “Taylor Randall gives the latest on the Pac-12 Media Rights deal + more” on Spreaker.