PAC-12's Media Rights Situation Continues To Spiral Downward
It sounds like the hope of the PAC-12 striking a media deal with Amazon might be fading.
The west coast conference and commissioner George Kliavkoff have been urgently hunting down a new media deal as the conference enters the final football season of its current deal.
So far, there's no deal to be found. To make matters worse, the Big 12 has a deal that will pay conference members $31.7 million annually moving forward.
So, not only does the PAC-12 not have a deal, its seemingly new rival - the Big 12 - can offer schools looking to jump stability.
Will the PAC-12 land a new media deal? (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)
The PAC-12 continues to be in trouble.
There had been some whispers Amazon could come in and save the day by offering the PAC-12 a streaming deal. The Athletic reported "there is conceptual interest" from Jeff Bezos company for a Friday night package, but overall, it sounds like the deal isn't close to being done.
"Amazon and the Pac-12 were far apart earlier this month regarding any kind of a deal," Richard Deitsch reported for the outlet Monday.
Previous conflicting reports indicated ION Television might be the true leader for the PAC-12 rights. Have you never heard of it? Don't sweat it. Most people haven't.
Will the PAC-12 land a new media deal or is the conference in huge trouble? (Credit: Getty Images)
How much worse will this get?
It was reported George Kliavkoff was given until mid-April to get this situation figured out. Well, that's roughly six weeks away, and the PAC-12 seems to be in panic mode.
It's almost as if the ship is going down, and the conference is scrambling from potential partner to potential partner to see if there's a lifeboat anywhere.
Right now, it appears the boats have been launched and the PAC-12 isn't on one.
Apple reportedly hasn't made an offer, Amazon is reportedly not close and none of the traditional networks seem overly interested unless it's for pennies on the dollar. If George Kliavkoff wasn't already panicking, now would be the time to start. It looks like the PAC-12 is in big trouble.