In a last-ditch effort to save the conference, the nine remaining Pac-12 schools met today in hopes to sign the Grant of Rights for the Apple deal presented earlier this week. However, they did not end up signing the deal this morning, according to multiple outlets (first by ESPN’s Pete Thamel).
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Sources indicating to me and @CFBHeather that the Pac-12 is unlikely to land the plane this morning and get its media rights deal signed on this call today. Multiple variables at play here, including 11th hour Big Ten push for Oregon and Washington. Everything remains fluid. https://t.co/YUm5xStXv7
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 4, 2023
There was all of a sudden a lot of hope for this meeting this morning after it seemed highly unlikely a deal would get done.
Sources: With the Pac-12 president meeting at the top of the hour, there's optimism about the league’s grant of rights being signed. The key linchpin is Oregon. Heading into the meeting, the school is trending toward not going to the Big Ten.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 4, 2023
On Tuesday, the nine remaining teams in the conference met and were finally presented numbers for a TV rights deal after over a year of negotiations. To say the least, it was not good, as the best of the three packages presented was with Apple and around 80% streaming where teams would get paid around $24.5 million on the high end, according to 247 Sports’ Jason Scheer.
The deal expired today, so they were trying to get it done, but that did not end up happening.
Now, the future of the conference is likely done with ASU, Arizona and Utah likely headed to the Big 12 and Oregon and Washington likely going to the Big Ten.
See everything that was reported this morning (trust me it was a lot):
Tracker of Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten realignment news (August 4)
