Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
- Start date
Finally some clarity and sounds like most media people are aligning that Amazon wants the Pac12's top game, ESPN would be interested in Pac12 at 9:30p CT and willing to add Pac12 tier3 to ESPN+.
The missing piece would be a linear platform (NBC, CBS, FOX) televising a game Sat afternoon or night. Most reports I've seen say Fox has no interest, at least in paying big $. And other sport properties like NBA, NASCAR, etc could be the focus for NBC, FOX, Amazon, Apple, etc future BIG investments.
The one thing I haven't seen is how this opens the door for the Big12. If Fox, NBC, CBS aren't interested in Pac12 media rights at a Big12 level investment ($32M), why would they suddenly be willing to make that level of investment if 2,4,6 etc. Pac12 teams are added to the Big12?
A poster mentioned last week ESPN was contractually obligated to pay for further P5 adds by the Big12. But where would FOX's 40% come from?
- Amazon.
- Or is the Big12 package more valuable to ESPN with more MT & PT games.
Its part of the escalator, those late games have more value to ESPN, so they may pay full share for those, while it also allows for the B12 to add another media partner to pick up the added content.
I dont know if there is a set deal if the escalator is triggered, I believe it triggers more negotiations. ESPN could pay more than 60% knowing they would be getting that late content and not need to get it from somewhere else. While at the same time, there may be more content as a whole that ESPN needs/wants so another partner would be able to come it. Basically, from everything I have read it opens up the ability to $ in multiple ways. But some of that could just be speculation by reporters, as everything seems to be these days.
If Fox is truly out, it's over. Iger also just had an earnings call where he said they were going to be a lot more selective with sports rights. I mean the PAC could literally get left out in the cold here with no major network partners outside of one game a week or something. If they have 1 game a week on and the rest on AppleTV I mean this sincerely nobody will know they exist. And this is coming from a guy who is very pro streaming.
What does Stewie Mandel have to say about all this?
He’ll just tell us the Big 12 is equally screwed. That was his shift after the writing on the wall became apparent to him on the Pac
Probably “All these networks are leaving negotiations because they can’t keep up with all the money other media partners are offering!”
That's definitely the line on twitter from the PAC apologists right now.
Curious if Yormark is helping to be in middle of negotiations and facilitating the PAC mess to get expansion west.
Yormark's deal looked good at the time but now it's looking absolutely phenomenal.
My assumption here is that TV networks recognize that the value comes from about 4-5 of the 10 teams. So if they are willing to offer $250m per year for the package, perhaps those 4 added to the big12 could bring well North of $32m each. It's the other 5-6 schools that are worth far less that is making those dollars seem so bad for the overall package.
Timing was about right. What has happened at Disney and ESPN since then has completely pivoted their strategy away.
I think there's a potential middle ground in that the PAC has committed it's major inventory to a streamer in a short term deal for a dollar amount that's tolerable for the group.
It's hard to see that second one as a possibility with how long this has dragged out.
