Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff presented a media rights contract to the schools on Tuesday, with nothing less than the future of the century-old conference at stake.
Details are sparse as the presidents and athletic directors digest the proposal, save for an ESPN report indicating Kliavkoff’s plan featured a heavy presence on Apple and a revenue structure that tied cash to subscriptions.
Our reaction …
1. Any chance to link arms with the richest, most influential, most innovative, savviest, smartest company in the world is something the Pac-12 should seriously consider, especially when that company is rapidly expanding its portfolio of sports properties and positioned to dominate the sports media landscape in the near future. But in this case, the details mean everything.
2. The lean into streaming comes as no surprise. Kliavkoff signaled his strategy 18 months ago, telling a sports media podcast: “Whatever deal we do, it’s my goal to have our content available on any piece of glass connected to the internet. Period, full stop.”
Six months later, at a Pac-12 football media event prior to the 2022 season, he indicated the conference’s next media rights deal was “highly likely” to feature a major digital media company.
Since that moment, we have presumed Apple or Amazon would have a significant role in the contract.
3. At the same time, the Hotline viewed any media rights deal that didn’t include a package of games on ESPN as a suboptimal approach.
ESPN is vital because of the product visibility provided by linear television and the network’s messaging power within the college sports space.
If the Pac-12 isn’t contractually tied to ESPN, then its highly-influential studio shows have little motivation to discuss the conference and promote its teams and players.
4. Which brings us to a critical point in this assessment: The unknown elements of the deal Kliavkoff presented.
Is the proposed contract only with Apple? Or is there a…
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