The collegiate athletic conference, Pacific-12, has been facing many struggles following its inability to keep up with its media rights agreement with Apple. The Pac-12 is also facing the pressure of other athletic conferences such as the Big 10 and Big 12 which are currently rising in fame.
The Pac 12 has been around for 108 years and has produced legendary athletes such as Jackie Robinson, John Elway, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Barry Bonds. They also had many top name college teams in their league over the years such as USC, Arizona State, and UCLA, who have earned a total of 533 NCAA championships over time according to https://pac-12.com. After 108 years of success, many fans are very sad to see it fade.
Apple’s $20 million dollar contract with Pac 12 has recently become too much for the athletic conference to handle. Many schools benefit from Pac 12 and other athletic conferences by gaining revenue through media deals with companies such as Apple and ESPN. These media deals have become very expensive and are in high demand.
Now that the Pac 12 is struggling to uphold its contract with Apple, many other big athletic conferences have taken the opportunity to invite schools leaving the Pac-12. These schools include Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah but these are only a few of the many that are projected to join in the future.
“We are thrilled to welcome Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah to the Big 12,” conference commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement (By Jacob Lev and Homero De la Fuente cnn.com).
These big additions to the Big 12 will only help them grow into a bigger and better conference leaving the Pac 12 out to dry. More big name schools are expected to leave the Pac 12 conference, in search of better media opportunities. With this upcoming change, many are anticipating The Big 12 and The Big 10 to have a promising future in the college athletic conference world.
On July 21, 2023, George Kliavkoff the commissioner of the Pac 12 conference addressed his concerns regarding his meeting with the press on Friday, July 21, 2023, in Las Vegas. Kliavkoff states, “It’s not a concern. Our schools are committed to each other and to the Pac-12. We’ll get our media rights deal done, we’ll announce the deal.” (Jared Mack 247sports.com). In Kliavkoff’s response, he created a sense of confidence and hope in the athletic conference by stating that there are bigger problems ahead of them. This statement led many to think that Kliavkoff was avoiding the question, in fear of admitting that his conference was slowly disappearing.
On the other hand, the Big 10 has recently signed a lucrative media contract for the next decade, making them one of the biggest up and coming athletic conferences. The Big 10 currently have a total of 14 college teams in the conference with media deals with Fox, CBS, and NBC, and are only expanding.
Hopefully, Pac 12 will be able to find a new media deal to keep their athletic conference alive for many more years to come.
