After 9 months of negotiations, the rebuilt Pac-12 lastly has its media rights settlement in place — effectively, a portion of its media rights settlement — and the Hotline has loads of ideas on the event.
CBS would be the “primary long-term media partner,” the convention introduced early Monday, with a five-year deal that begins subsequent summer season and runs by way of 2031.
All eight colleges that can compete within the Pac-12 starting July 1, 2026 agreed to the deal.
Extra distributors — and there might be a number of — might be revealed “at a later date” because the convention takes a phased strategy to disclosing its community companions.
The Pac-12 continues to evaluate its membership choices and should add not less than one college for all sports activities by subsequent summer season. The cope with CBS is “inclusive of one additional football-playing, all-sports member of the new Pac-12.”
With these particulars coated, let’s plunge into the weeds with a seven-part response.
Right here we go …
— The size of the deal was revealed, however not the valuation. Ought to the radio silence on the greenback quantity be taken as an indication the Pac-12 didn’t get the worth it needed? That’s tough.
In lots of cases, conferences don’t formally announce the valuation — they leak that info. However the Pac-12’s unconventional strategy to its media bundle makes leaking the {dollars} a dangerous proposition.
If the quantity is revealed, it may undermine the lively negotiations with different networks for the remaining portion of the soccer and basketball stock.
One other complication: The variety of broadcasts will not be identified.
The settlement requires CBS to point out the Pac-12 soccer championship sport, the lads’s basketball event title sport and three regular-season video games for every sport.
However a bundle of soccer and basketball video games additionally will air on CBS Sports activities Community, with the small print “to be announced at a later date,” in keeping with the convention.
That means the outcomes of ongoing negotiations with different networks may impression the quantity of video games on CBS Sports activities. If that’s the case, the worth of the deal might be considerably fluid.
Then once more, the Pac-12 was by no means going to generate shock and awe with its media rights settlement. The entire worth of the deal, when all aspects are full, is anticipated to land within the $7 million-to-$10 million vary (per college per yr).
The valuation ought to be roughly corresponding to the American Athletic Convention’s media cope with ESPN and double what the Mountain West is at present receiving from Fox and CBS.
— Followers who anticipated the Pac-12 to have the media rights and membership points neatly wrapped and revealed by the tip of the 2024-25 fiscal yr may contemplate resetting expectations.
The announcement Monday morning doesn’t preclude the convention from disclosing the opposite media companions and its growth choice by June 30. However the to-do record stays prolonged, and time is operating brief.
Our hunch: Each issues will seep into July.
That is perhaps suboptimal for any colleges — howdy, Texas State — which have laddered penalty constructions hooked to the fiscal yr. (The Bobcats would owe the Solar Belt extra in exit charges in the event that they announce their departure after June 30, in keeping with ESPN.)
However as a Pac-12 supply indicated, the convention is working by itself timeline.
— One part that has not been disclosed: When the Pac-12 soccer stock will air on CBS and CBS Sports activities Community.
Will the convention schedule video games on Thursday or Friday? Might it presumably air video games on Sunday evenings after the conclusion of NFL protection on CBS? May the Pac-12 transfer video games to Tuesday or Wednesday?
It’s price noting that the deal represents a second foothold in school soccer for CBS, which shares the Large Ten’s media rights with Fox and NBC. Every week, CBS airs a Large Ten sport within the 12:30 p.m. (Pacific) window.
That timing may create cross-promotional alternatives if the community exhibits Pac-12 video games at 4 p.m., both on CBS itself or CBS Sports activities Community.
— One other lacking piece: The position Pac-12 Enterprises will play in providing manufacturing help for media companions.
The unit produced Pac-12 soccer video games for The CW final season and can do the identical in 2025. (It additionally dealt with studio exhibits for each the Pac-12 and ACC.)
CBS has been within the school soccer manufacturing enterprise for many years by way of its earlier partnership with the SEC, so the community seemingly doesn’t want an help.
However don’t be shocked if Pac-12 Enterprises, which is positioned within the Bay Space, performs a task in upcoming media agreements.
— For all the eye paid to soccer, which generates roughly 75 p.c of the media {dollars}, the settlement with CBS is a serious win for Pac-12 basketball.
The community is, together with Turner, the longtime residence of the NCAA Event. Its basketball protection is extra influential throughout the school sports activities media ecosystem than its soccer protection. (ESPN and Fox rule the soccer world.)
That serves the Pac-12’s functions effectively. The convention might be extra aggressive nationally on the court docket than on the sphere with two current Ultimate 4 individuals, Gonzaga and San Diego State, carrying the banner.
There’s a case to be made, the truth is, that Pac-12 basketball might be nearer to energy convention standing than Pac-12 soccer.
The partnership with CBS ought to be a bonus within the media messaging sport, particularly as March approaches.
— The deal is notable, as effectively, for the interaction between neighboring conferences.
CBS is likely one of the Mountain West’s two media rights companions, together with Fox. That settlement ends subsequent summer season, when the CBS contract extension with the Pac-12 begins.
Does this imply CBS received’t bid on Mountain West rights? Might it accomplice with each leagues? Is Fox planning to bid on everything of the Mountain West’s stock?
The reply will reveal itself in coming months, however our preliminary response: It’s not splendid for the Mountain West.
— One ancillary advantage of the CBS deal for longtime Pac-12 followers: Rick Neuheisel, a lead studio analyst for CBS — and the most effective within the enterprise — might be discussing the rebuilt convention frequently.
Neuheisel coached Washington, Colorado and UCLA, used to work for the Pac-12 Networks and is much better versed than most nationwide analysts within the current historical past of faculty soccer within the western third of the nation.
