Big Ten reaches seven-year TV deal worth almost $8 billion (and potentially up to nearly $10 billion) after adding USC, UCLA
Sam Farmer (LA Times) — The Big Ten has finalized a monumental media-rights agreement inspired by the NFL’s coast-to-coast takeover on Sundays — and paves a path to ending those late-night USC and UCLA games that only part of the country watches.
As of next fall, the conference will feature morning games on Fox, afternoon games on CBS and prime-time games on NBC.
“I think this media deal will give more attention to the West Coast schools,” Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren told The Times. “We’ll be starting at 9 in the morning Pacific time, and because of the quality of the games, with fans across four time zones, it’s going to give validity and credibility to all our games, from the morning, throughout the day and into the night.”
The Big Ten, which officially adds USC and UCLA in 2024, is expected to announce the long-awaited media deal Thursday. The seven-year pact that begins in 2023 is worth more than $1 billion per season. In fact, the total value of the deal is nearly $8 billion, with financial escalators that could push it to nearly $10 billion, according to individuals with knowledge of the negotiations but not authorized to speak about it on the record.
The massive deal could give UCLA some high-caliber ammunition in its bid to secure Big Ten membership and ward off the University of California regents who have openly raised the possibility of blocking the school’s planned move from the Pac-12.
Warren, a former Minnesota Vikings executive, said some of the strategies and truisms he learned in the NFL are reflected in this agreement.
“One thing that I really admire about the NFL is they have done a really good job of creating brand credibility and fan avidity,” Warren said. “The way you do that is you have to make it as simple as it can possibly be for fans to find the content that they’re looking for. With this new structure, I want fans on Thursday to start thinking about what they’re going to be doing on Saturday, to know that they’ll be able to start their day with Fox and roll right into an afternoon with CBS and an evening with NBC.
“Then I want our fans to hear on Sunday about all the great college football that they watched on Saturday. The cross-marketing opportunities are going to be powerful.”
The agreement gives the Big Ten unprecedented coast-to-coast exposure, significantly enhanced by the addition of the two Los Angeles universities.
“From a television standpoint it totally cements the Big Ten as having a national footprint,” said Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports. “[Having USC and UCLA] makes the selection process easier, because you now have two teams with a great national following and a West Coast presence, and it delivers to us the second-largest television market in the country. So from a value standpoint, the conference is more valuable with USC and UCLA in it.”
What the deal doesn’t feature is ESPN, a Big Ten media partner since the early 1980s. However, Fox will remain the conference’s main media partner. The agreement is backloaded, with the disbursements gently sloping upward in the first two years and increasing significantly in Years 3 through 7.
Warren said there is flexibility built into the deal in the event the Big Ten expands further.
“The elements of potential expansion have been addressed from the first meeting that I had over a year ago,” he said.
The current media rights agreement expires at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.
Under the new agreement, the Big Ten championship games will rotate among Fox, CBS and NBC.
The conference will have a presence on broadcast television from morning to night on Saturdays, with Fox games beginning at 9 a.m. PDT, CBS at 12:30 p.m. PDT and NBC at 5 p.m. PDT. Also, games will air on FS1 and the Big Ten Network, and will be streamed on Peacock.
Fox has renewed its agreement to broadcast football and men’s basketball games each season.
CBS will air the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament semifinals and final, as it has for the past 25 years. For the first time, CBS will air the women’s basketball championship as well. The network will air seven of the conference’s football games next season and as many as 15 each year for the remainder of the deal. Every CBS Big Ten football and basketball game will also be streamed on Paramount+.
The NBC inventory includes 16 games in 2023, and 14 to 15 per season from 2024-29.
BTN will remain the home for Big Ten fans and will continue to televise a slate of football, basketball and Olympic sport competitions throughout the year.
Peacock will stream eight football games per year throughout the life of the deal, 47 men’s basketball games, and of the Olympic sports, up to 40 live events per year.
“My focus is always to meet our customers where they are, because we have fans around the world,” Warren said. “We have young fans, we have fans who have been watching Big Ten sports for over 50 years. I focus on making sure that our fans from ages 5 to 105 can consume content in a way that’s most comfortable for them.”
latimes.com
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I’m not sure why there is so much hate for Foreman. He’s just getting started. I get he came in with huge hype, but he’s still got a long way to go before we know anything about him. I will bet on crazy talent every time.
Chris, I am with you on this one. Give the young man a chance. He has been injured a lot and SC need him healthy, playing to potential, and in the game. He also had really bad coaching last year in a bad program. He was in full pads for the first time since Fall camp started (it was the last practice). He will now need to develop himself. He clearly matured early (remember, due to Covid, he missed his senior year of high school). He clearly has talent; whether that talent will develop and show itself on the field… Read more »
Chris, I for one have been questioning what is going on with the kid. It seems like to me his head is not in the game. I am rooting for him, God knows USC needs him desparately. I hope he gets it together, responds to the new coaching, and becomes a player equal to his hype. I do feel that with NIL these kids have to deal with us fans being critical seeing as now they are being paid as professionals. We can and do have expectations of players.
Just watched the ESPN College Football Power Rankings. Here are the highlights, lots of love for USC, but Scioto will like the love for OSU.
#12 USC – Team rank for this season
#5 USC v Utah -games to watch
#4 USC – Best Bands
#3 Caleb Williams – QBs and maybe Heisman
#2 Fight On! – Fight Songs
#2 Caleb Williams – Transfers
#1 Jordan Addison – Transfer and Offensive player
#1 Lincoln Riley – New Head Coach
Good article and food for thought.
https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/2022/08/20/will-pac-12-refs-punish-usc-and-ucla-on-the-gridiron-this-fall/?env=2c0fbadba8f6b9bc0a3b5f2029c763126785c260cd0c198b870399de52f96a26
It will be interesting to watch the conference games to see if officiating is even more anti-USC than usual.
I am totally a conspiracy theory fan, so I know I will see the refs being part of the outcome in every game for the next two seasons. I saw the knee drop touchdown as way to prevent USC from getting a threepete. I will never understand a targeting call being called and upheld against a kicker, but a blatant targeting call being waved off for the other team. Football is a done deal sport. No matter how many mistakes the refs make there’s no recourse for the team that was cheated. (Ask Notre Dame if they remember the “BushPush”)
Do you believe the Bush Push should have been called back by the refs?
No I really didn’t see the problem. As many times as I have seen it, I see incidental contact at best.
This just means they are going to continue making the same crappy calls they always have.
Who will you miss playing most in 2024?
1.CAL
2.ORE
3.STAN
4.UW
5.UTAH
OR, and what I’ll miss is beating them.
Stanford, just because they are Stanford.
Agreed, Steveg, Stanford has always been a wildcard in my mind. I never expected them to beat us last year. In fact I expect a good contest, but a USC win. “What’s your deal?” Was one of those games where things go sideways and it’s really unexpected. Stanford home games are an interesting mix of creative officials and clock management.
None. The only team I would miss playing is ND and that game will continue into the future. I never really had any animus towards a team. I am looking forward to playing tOSU, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, NE and WI on a regular basis. If I were forced to pick a team it would be Stanford, but knowing that Stanford football is done I really am not going to miss it. I could see SC scheduling Stanford as a regular non-conference opponent because of the longstanding tradition. It would also allow the Trojans to enter the Bay Area market… Read more »
Utah. For obvious reasons.
Considering who we are going to be playing in the B1G…none of them!
Interesting. Wonder how Pat Narduzzi reads this?
“Jordan Addison recently explained that when deciding whether or not to transfer, he sought advice from others. And the people he leaned on for advice were the members of his inner circle. Addison states that his inner circle consists of two people: his mother and brother.
“I leaned on my circle, like my older brother and my mom. They helped me out a lot. So, that inner circle, that’s who I leaned on,” said Addison.
Justin Rudolph (on3.com)
Former Jaguars HC Urban Meyer Rejoins Fox on ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ for 2022 Season
Urban’s latest rehab effort fits perfect
I was looking at pictures of football practice this afternoon and noticed that each player’s name was proceeded by the name of a college and the word transfer. When do these players get to be called Trojans by the media.? Sure we have a lot of transfers, but most of them were in spring ball and have been on campus for some time. Can please refer to them by position and name? Quarterback Caleb Williams sounds better than “Oklahoma transfer Caleb Williams.”
Sark has just announced that OHIO ST transfer QB Quinn Ewers is the Longhorn starter over Hudson Card.
No surprise with Sark’s announcement, but since woeful TEXAS hasn’t even won the Big 12 in 12 years, Ewers better perform right out of the chute. 2023 QB Arch Manning, who will redshirt, sure seems like a long way off.
I have read a few articles that say Manning does not deserve the stars he has it will be interested to see what he does in college
Lots of times I see this come up with highfalutin prep stars, especially those with famous fathers. I think I was affected by Manning’s immediate redshirt declaration. For a hotshot QB, that’s really weak. Plus, his comp level is very low. Mike Farrell (former Rivals big wig)— “If his name was Arch Smith, I think he’d probably be a high three-star quarterback,” Farrell said on Crain & Company. “He plays a very low level of competition. He hasn’t progressed. He had a really good freshman season. I wouldn’t say regression, but he hasn’t progressed. And when he has had to step up… Read more »
I say yes but we’ll see you in time
I think even you Allen and many of us are dubious of the rating system used for high school players. It seems so many 5 star players bomb and so many 3 star players excel that for a coach to pick up a player based on star ratings is a pure crap shoot. Riley is not so much into the star system, I think he evaluates on his own and looks for potential.
Predicting how preps will perform in college is a highly difficult, complex task. There are so many factors to consider, not the least of which is the quality of your crystal ball.
An Article From Yahoo sports >>>>>College football Top 25: Who can emerge from teams ranked 11-25? ( They basically make a case that BEST 2 teams not ranked in Top 10 are USC and Oklahoma)
Nick Bromberg and Sam Cooper
Wed, August 17, 2022 at 10:02 AM· (An excerpt from the Article) >>>>>
“Here’s a look at the teams we have ranked outside the top 10 and why we think they’re among the best in the country entering the 2022 campaign.” Article link >>>>> College football Top 25: Who can emerge from teams ranked 11-25? (yahoo.com)
Alabama-Clemson, USC-Notre Dame, Michigan-Ohio State: 20 most influential games of the 2000s per Andy Staples (The Athletic) 11. 2005 USC-Notre Dame Should officials have thrown a flag when USC quarterback Matt Leinart got pushed into the end zone by Reggie Bush with three seconds remaining to give USC a 34-31 lead? Yes. While that play would be legal now, it wasn’t in 2005. (I disagree vehemently with Andy Staples here because the “pushing penalty” was NEVER enforced. At least I’ve never seen it called in any game. Pushing is legal now because everyone did it with impunity forever). But that… Read more »
From USC Athletic Department Blog Look no further than USC’s first scrimmage of camp on Tuesday to see how high the team’s defensive staff have set the expectations for themselves and their players. “I thank God it wasn’t a game. Long story short,” said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch on Thursday with a dry laugh. “It felt like a first scrimmage in terms of a tackling standpoint,” Grinch said. “What you can’t do as a coach, you can’t get surprised the first time you go live all sudden and you have some misses that way.” “It’s tough because to get good… Read more »
John, Thanks for this update. It is the first honest appraisal of our D I have read this fall. The D is very much a work in process. I had noticed a lot of injuries to the rush end, outside LB. We are really thin at that position. I think we are playing walk-ons. And, we now know our team does not tackle well. At least at this point of the season. I think the D will be better than last year, but it is not going to be dominant by any standard. Just about what most expected.
I predict the USC D will be better than you think, certainly better than I ever expected before LR began importing several excellent players. USC should be among the best in the Pac-12 conference, which is all that matters for the Pac-12 title.
I am very disappointed however in Korey Foreman, who hasn’t managed even one single full practice yet, although he should make a few All Get-Off-the-Bus teams.
We need more strength from our EDGE players, and so far at least, it doesn’t look like Helton-Holdover Foreman will help much. I’m pulling for Solomon Bryd (below) now.
Happy Friday Allen. I agree with you about the Defense. Much less turmoil than last year. Better coaching and culture should show in the results. I have thought about Foreman more than I should. But he is an interesting case. He earned a lot of publicity and attention as a big time 5* and could have gone wherever he wanted. He chose USC and the program absolutely imploded. Chaos reigned supreme. He under performed relative the expectations put on him. As a consequence his talent. & worth as a player are being questioned. Probably rightly so. He gets no benefit… Read more »
You’ll notice I didn’t use the dreaded word “bust” here when describing Korey Foreman. Too early for that, and besides, nobody wants to be a “mean girl”, do they? Actually, he’s received the benefit of every single doubt while at USC from what I have observed, while producing only doubts and no benefits. And I would say he’s been treated with kid gloves actually. He hasn’t shown anything more than average college ability along with a strong attachment to “rehab island.” I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him, especially with his amazing opportunities which can now be so quickly monetized.… Read more »
Foreman may be the guy Donald Sutherland was referring to in The Dirty Dozen: “Very pretty, colonel. Very pretty. But can they fight?”
That’s a movie I haven’t seen in about 25-30 years. I’m ready for another viewing I think. What a cast!
Did you know the DD screenplay is based on the 1965 bestseller by E. M. Nathanson which was inspired by a real-life WWII unit of behind-the-lines demolition specialists from the 101st Airborne Div named the “Filthy Thirteen”?
I think I like the Filthy Thirteen better!
Saw it first run with my girlfriend at one of the palaces on Hollywood Blvd. Walked back to my car — we’ll, my mom’s car — to discover I had locked the keys inside. I had to find a pay phone and call my dad. My girl and I got a late start that night.
In these times it seems players are getting monetized beyond what they ever dreamed. How much this is affecting them is yet to be seen, but I see fans (like myself) more readily coming down on them if they are not performing up to their hype. Is it justified? I do believe it is. If you are getting top dollar to play college ball, just like in anything, we expect to see what all that money is paying for. Perhaps Foreman will fulfil expectations, perhaps he won’t, but we now expect (and rightly so) to see excellence on the field.… Read more »
There’s no doubt, at least in my mind, that our players are now viewed by the world much more as athlete-students than student-athletes. I think more and more of us will head in that direction too.
Jim Brown dropping grenades down the shoot only to get nailed by a Nazi sniper! I hope Foreman faces this epiphany and rises to the occasion.
Just a matter of time, Foreman will enter transfer portal.
can’t tell if it’s Academics, Bennie Wylies strength and conditioning regimen, off/on campus team infraction, lack of performance on the field, viewed through Riley’s eyes.
Something is just not computing.
Alfa, Korey was either a victim of HS football over-ratings or, he simply doesn’t want it enough. He certainly wouldn’t be the first in this scenario.
DL De’jon Benton was a lowly three-star (and not even a top 100 Calif player) who looks ready to make his make. KF…well, we’ll have to wait and see.
“He (Benton) was made for this defense,” Shaun Nua said after a USC practice this week. “His natural ability, it fits what we do perfectly. The twitch that he has to get penetration and get upfield. That’s what De’jon Benton brings.”
Or, he is sulking about not getting a BIG NIL PAYDAY !!!
I hadn’t thought seriously about the possibility of an “NIL sulk factor.”
Just another new issue we should consider when trying to figure out a team’s makeup and what could be holding back certain players.
So…Once the Trojans and the ruins leave the PAC, does the PAC have to stop calling themselves the conference of Champions?
Interesting question. Two of the three biggest Champions are leaving, but the championships remain. Will Bill Walton ever be able to stop saying the Conference of Champions when referring to the newly reduced Pac-10?
Definitions can be so easily twisted nowadays that an actual factual basis for a descriptive moniker seems to be an unnecessary formality to many.
On some of the broadcasts Bill Walton has done, I’ve counted nearly two dozen times he says “Conference of Champions”. He’s one of the most annoying announcers/analysts in college basketball, often going off on tangents that make little to no sense. I think he did too many drugs while at UCLA. Only Dick Vitale is more annoying than Walton. Whereas I support Vitale in his efforts to fight cancer, including his own plight, he is like a clanging cymbal on TV broadcasts and commercials. When either Walton or Vitale are on, I mute the audio.
He did smoke weed at UCLA. I worked for a guy in college that went to ucla. He swore that he smoked up with Walton on the roof of a dorm in westwood when they were freshmen.
ESPN Producing 30 for 30 Documentary on UCLA, NBA Legend Bill Walton
One of the most decorated big men in the history of basketball will be the subject of the Worldwide Leader’s latest film.
si.com
yeah, but he did smoke weed while playing for St. John of Westwooden….😝
I think he came out and admitted smoking pot in college, like every other kid I knew, well…mostly it seemed. I never smoked pot until I got to USC. My first experience with it was with the son of the renowned Dr. Robert Kerlan, who was in my fraternity, and right down the hall from me. Not only did Kerlan’s son convince me to try his pot for the first time, he also graciously showed me that I should not stick with my pre-med major if I ever wanted to succeed at USC (too competitive). He was obviously headed to… Read more »
I’m sorry, but USC fans have no place to joke about or criticize a UCLA and NBA great like Bill Walton. I mean, really, you guys have nothing, nada, zilch to compare.
I love Bill. Patterned much of my game and prep after him nInlove his tangents.
SC fans should stay in their lane and focus on football.
Oh Dude! Just try to watch a Bill Walton broadcast of a Pac12 game. It is pure torture. The ramblings about everything Except the Game! A great HOF basketball player but as a broadcaster I have to hit the mute!
I could see how he could get annoying over the course of a season. I’m usually catching a PAC 12 game here and there when my son turns it on. We’re usually laughing at Bill’s tangents as opposed to watching the game.
Bill Walton could get annoying over the course of five minutes. Obviously, you’re not quite getting our drift here @Scioto. 🙂
Putting down Bill Walton has nothing to do with comparisons whatsoever.
He’s just a self-consumed dork on TV sometimes. Others wouldn’t be so generous, and literally turn the volume off when he speaks.
I’m not nearly in that club, and I find Mr. Conference of Champions okay and informed.
But there’s also that other weird, semi-wacko, overbearing, and overdone side of Walton that is entirely fair game for us USC fans.
I have nothing but respect for Bill Walton as a player but he’s annoying as an announcer. Bill has said that if a game came down to the last seconds and a team needed a bucket from anywhere on the court, he would give the ball to USC great Paul Westphal, may he R.I.P.. In an NBA finals game vs Boston and his team down by 1 point with just a few seconds left, Paul called timeout but the Phoenix Suns didn’t have any more. That resulted in a technical foul shot for Boston which was made, putting the Celtics… Read more »
Sometimes Walton gets into arguments with his co-host which can be entertaining. I forget the guy’s name, but he gives as good as he gets against Mr. Conference of Champions.
Now that his very own beloved Bruins are following the Trojans to the B1G, I’m wondering if Walton plans a 30-minute on-air diatribe where he somehow brings in the Grateful Dead as a factor?
Much respect for Paul Westphal. One of the greats and gone way too soon.
Westphal did so much for Trojan basketball, even though he was unable to bring a NC to SC. Just a classy guy on and off the court for USC, and well-beyond as well.
Allen, I’ve always been bewildered as to why USC never had Paul Westphal as it’s basketball head coach. I think he was coaching at Pepperdine about the same time SC had Henry Bibby who played for UCLA back in the day. It has always been a real head scratcher for me.
Thank you for the kind words Scioto. One of my best friends from High School that I still keep in touch with has an older sister, Cindy, who was Paul’s wife. Shortly after Westphal moved on to the NBA from USC, another guard came along that was a very good player, Gus Williams. I was an undergraduate student at SC when Gus played.
“SC fans should stay in their lane…”
Dude, you’re here driving on our freeway. We own all of the lanes.
That being said, Bill Walton’s announcing style is something that either you love or you hate.
Me? I hate it. Too many clichés and references to non-basketball topics. His rambling is more of a distraction than educational.
Oh, lighten up, Frances.😂
Exactly where I was coming from to the championships belong to the school or the conference or both? I to delete that they belong to the school and if that’s the case you’ve got 200+ championships that now vacate the PAC and move over to the big tit
Stewart Mandel’s 2022 Preseason All- ‘wait, they’re still playing college football?!’ Team? QB: JT Daniels, West Virginia — First season of college football: 2018 A five-star recruit, Daniels started as a true freshman for USC’s 5-7 team in 2018. After after suffering a season-ending injury in the next season’s opener and getting passed up by Kedon Slovis, Daniels transferred to Georgia, where he made seven starts over two seasons before losing his job again, this time to Stetson Bennett. Now he’s the likely starter at West Virginia, and still somehow has another year of eligibility left after this one. RB: Travis Dye, USC — First… Read more »
I’ve always liked JT. He finished Mater Dei High early and started for USC as a true Freshman. SC ran the shotgun offense and I don’t think I ever saw JT under center. The Center for USC snapped the ball half way to JT most of the time so he had to chase it and run for his life looking for a receiver. Hopefully he can stay healthy at WVU and showcase his talent.
I was never all that impressed with Daniels. True, he played on a crappy team with third-world level coaching. But he presented himself as an entitled punk, no doubt encouraged by Helton’s promise to start him no matter what. And, to put it nicely, he didn’t have the skill set to play on a bad team; he was built for playing against defenses that had no hope of getting within ten feet of the QB. Sorry to see him injured; not sorry to see him move on.
In the end, after Daniels was done with USC and limped off to GA (where he won a Peach Bowl), I’d say USC let him down big-time — because his O-line left him out to dry so much of the time. Sure he could be more mobile, but Clay Helton was the guy who decided Daniels was the right fit for USC. We all know how stupid Helton could be. Pretty soon, Daniels was looking bad too. I always wondered how Daniels could prepare for those all-too-common weird, errant snaps, and still concentrate on running a play at the same… Read more »
Allen, I think you are being too kind towards Helton being as stupid as he was. In fact, he was lazy, was inept at recruiting, stood at countless podiums covering up his minimal knowledge and fed on players like JT & Slovis until they got hurt and found new victims to make his millions. I think he was just smart enough to hold Kiffin’s & Sarkisian’s clipboards at football practice which is pretty much all he did. I too feel if JT had a HC and position coaches that knew what they were doing (yes, no good assistant coach would… Read more »
I’d say that’s a very good point about The Cat simply being too terminally lazy for a program like USC.
Maybe he’ll be able to get away with this BS at GS, but at USC his laziness caused big bad spots in every corner of USC’s program.
I wonder what LR really thought after taking over when he saw his first complete picture of USC’s true status.
I’m wondering too what LR thought when he took over. I’m going to travel over Labor Day weekend from Northwest Arizona and take my son to see the Rice game. Really looking forward to seeing what LR and his staff put on the field as well as seeing a lot of new faces, primarily built through the transfer portal. I sure hope in the future that a focus is placed on recruiting local talent. Kayvon Thibodeaux and Bryce Young are just two examples of ones that got away. I can’t remember when this “Star” rating system came in to play… Read more »
Defenders Tuli Tuipulotu and Eric Gentry (below) are shining for the Trojans.
https://www.ocregister.com/2022/08/18/eric-gentry-making-a-early-impression-at-lb-for-usc/
An article in the Sun this morning said the Ucla deal was done. The Regents are looking to remove the University president’s power to make future choices such as this. It’s pure pandering to the disgruntled governor, who didn’t attend the meeting he instigated. The more interesting talk is removing football from the NCAA. I’m keeping an eye on that to see what develops.
I knew he would wind up California’s governor after being a total socialistic clown as San Francisco’s mayor. Perfect choice for those who don’t believe in earning what they get.
What a difference when smart competent people are in charge. Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren is on it big time. He doesn’t settle for a simple low ball deal. There are incentives, escalators that grow the pay out as the conference grows. The Pac12 looks like the clown conference now. Oh and when Nikias, Haden/Swann were in charge, USC was a clown school, but not anymore. Professionals are now in charge at 3551 Trousdale Pkwy!
ESPN Piles It On and Anchor Calls USC a ‘Clown College’ Lindsey Thiry (LAT, 8/28/14) — “USC is among college football’s most storied and successful programs but ESPN anchor John Anderson described the school as a ‘clown college’ in the wake of the Josh Shaw controversy. “Anderson made his remarks Wednesday after USC announced that the cornerback admitted to school officials that he fabricated a story about rescuing a distressed nephew in a pool and lied about how he suffered ankle injuries. “Anderson referenced the Pete Carroll era — which produced national championships but also NCAA probation and the stripping… Read more »
I have never forgotten that remark about USC and have disliked anything espn ever since. espn has truly become the clown network.
Sometimes the truth hurts but can be helpful for correction.
If only minds like Warren could run the Pac12 schools, Scott would have been fired years ago and the Pac12 network may have gotten out to more networks. Not that it would have saved the Pac but it would have helped.
I don’t care who the commissioner of the PAC-12 would be, you will never get 70% of the schools to support their football programs enough to warrant a top TV package. Stanford, CAL, WSU, OSU, ASU,Arizona, Colorado, who cares about their football programs?
And as Stanford and Cal will not play the NIL/transfer game, both teams will be unwatchable in about three years. SC stands a great chance to garner a large share of whatever collegiate football interest will remain in 2024 in the Bay Area.
What would be really interesting would be if UCLA actually pulled out of the B1G deal. The Regents can obviously make things very tough for the Bruins in numerous ways if they decide to push it, and it’s also obvious that UCLA fans are not nearly as thrilled with this move because it’s not gonna be good for UCLA football, at least not as good as it is for SC. The little gutties have always been known to be a “soft football program” by some coaches within CFB. That’s always undeniably been their culture, and the Pac-12 fits them a… Read more »
Just do not see that happening. What I do see happening is UCLA having to pay Cal “reparations”. Still think it comes in at about $50 Million. Too much money at stake and that money funds female sports. UCLA was losing about $30 million a year and was going to have to cut sports. So, it make zero sense to go back to that. But, I can see the Regents “redistributing” money from UCLA to Cal and agreeing to continue to play Cal yearly in football and schedule the UCs for B-Ball.
Fine with me.
It’ll only make it even more difficult for stuck-between-rocks UCLA to succeed in the B1G, and programs like STAN and CAL are still doomed to the little leagues, while USC waltzes off with uncut big dog $ and one of the premier coaches in the game.
Go Folt/Bohn/Caruso! Keep up the good work.
Cali socialism at work for you.
ucla and they way they work will probably pull out of the B1G only to see Oregon, Washington, Cal and Stanford go to the B1G. Now that would be hilarious.
ORE and Phil Knight would do anything to replace UCLA, yesterday, however unlikely that eventuality. Although I’m no fan of the Ducks, if they have to replace UCLA, bring them aboard, even though their recruiting would be helped greatly in Calif. But the B1G already bypassed ORE because they didn’t want them. Watching the Pac-12 flail around while trying to compensate for USC’s defection has been a real pleasure for me. I didn’t really anticipate myself feeling this way. But in all honesty, I honestly wasn’t aware that USC was SO unhappy with its Pac-12 situation. As it turns out,… Read more »
The one thing PK needs, but his money can’t buy, is the LA media market. OR has…wait for it…Portland! I’m pretty sure they’re more worried about the homeless, crime and a deteriorating social structure than a football team out in the “country”.
I wonder how many B1G teams are sponsored by and wear Nike gear. Oh, the irony.
Portland used to be a very attractive, pleasurable city from my experiences there about 25 years ago.
I hear things have changed greatly in the now crime-deluged city. Too bad.
I’ve heard the same from my parents.
I think you have Portland backwards. If the people there cared anything about crime and the deterioration of the city, it wouldn’t be the mess you see every time the city is in the news.
The sentimental me will miss the Pac12 games and traditions. The other me is very proud of USC to finally take a stand against the lazy, do nothing college presidents that let Larry Scott run the conference into the ground. They still have no idea what to do, such poor leadership in the Pac.
I’m bad at math. I guess that’s why I became a lawyer. But I work for an accounting firm. How did that happen? Could someone not from ESECPN help me out? Is 7 years for $8 billion more per team than 10 years $3 billion?
Those accountants are having a good effect on you. Yes 8/7 is > 3/10!😉
As I said, bad at math. The SEC ABC/ESPN deal is actually $700M per year for 10 years (through 2034). The SEC already had an ABC/ESPN deal that paid them $00M through 2034, and then sold the former CBS $300M yearly deal to ABC/ESPN that starts in 2024 also through 2034. But still $7B for 10 years not better than $8B for seven years.
Ironically, CBS is paying the B1G something like $385M annually when it declined to renew its $300M annual deal with the SEC.
The B1G, “it’s just worth more.” 😃
That last line, clever dig.
Warren botched the B1G response to the 2020 season, but I think he has now redeemed himself with the expansion and now this new media rights deal. His NFL experience in the league office and front office of the Vikings really shows as he had the foresight to open the deal up to multiple networks. That is the NFL strategy and maximizes dollars for the content, as opposed to the SEC approach of being exclusive to ABC/ESPN.
Kevin Warren definitely killed it (as well as unsuspecting George Kliavkoff) with his handling of the USC/UCLA absorption and now the complicated multi-network TV deal and Fox vs ESPN.
I had no idea the pressure Warren was under following his hugely criticized flubbing of the B1G 2020 Covid season. Warren sure grabbed the brass ring when he had to.
This is huge and a huge deal. Ohio State’s AD gave a presser today and said it’s $8 billion over the 7 years and some more details are being worked out. That’s roughly $1.142 billion per year. So, starting in 2024 when USC and UCLA join, divide that by 17 (the conference gets its cut too) and that’s $67.2 million per team. But what about that $100 million we were told? On top of the $67M, you also have to add (1) CFP dollars (and the dollars from the lesser bowl games), March Madness dollars, and BTN revenue for the… Read more »
This is great info, thanks! I am excited for some huge games coming up each and every year. I’ve never been to the shoe, but I am sure I will be going in the next few years. I have been to happy valley, it was super fun. Not fun to get in and out of, but the game day experience was incredible.
My pick for the best 38-miles-from-the-airport-one-road-in, one-road-out type game experience was at CLEM, when Bobby Bowden and his ‘Noles with Deion Sanders rolled in way out there in 1988. Never seen so much bright Orange, that’s for sure, even more so than in Knoxville on game day. As a guest of Danny Ford and their RC, I listened closely as Ford sternly warned his team during pre-game of Sanders’ insane punt return skills (which ended up being a huge factor in the game too). This would go down in history as the “Puntrooskie” game, won by FSU trickery 24-21. All… Read more »
That’s a place on my bucket list for sure. I’ve been to Texas, Penn St, Nebraska, South Carolina and every pac 12 stadium. A few other smaller schools as well. There is nothing like a college football Saturday, it’s the best.
Most underrated is Missoula for a Montana Grizzlies game. They whole town shuts down and goes nuts. That place takes a back seat to nobody. It was awesome. On par with the others mentioned above. Way better experience than half the pac 12 schools.
That’s the way Fresno is, the whole city gets fired up over a Fresno St game.
I read B1G release where it mentioned an adjustment up would apply when the LA schools 2024 entered. The LA market 2024 value would be applied. So yes it would be in the 100mil share value
Great info. Thanks.
if the Bucks would ever play AT Akron, they’d probably put that one on NBC in prime time.
As a follow up to my post below, I do not see Oregon staying in the Pac. The B1G and the SEC (and probably ND) are going to own the Saturday viewers. The Pac time slot will be “After Dark” which starts at 10:30 on the East Coast. That time slot is a Mountain and West Coast audience. It cannot be worth that much. Look for the remaining Pac to play a LOT of Wednesday (the MAC time slot), Thursday and Friday games starting in 2024. I cannot imagine that Oregon wants that, so look for Oregon and UW to… Read more »
This confirms that SC had to move. Otherwise it would have been moved to second tier status. The SEC will put up competing games via ESPN, ABC and probably CBS. This will leave the ACC, the B12 and particularly the Pac10 in a very tough spot. The Pac will have some exposure until SC and UCLA leave (and make no mistake UCLA is leaving, but it will have to pay “reparations” to do so). Looks like starting in 2024, the Pac’s best exposure will be “Pac after Dark” starting at 10:30 pm EST and when they play an SEC or… Read more »
How appropriate that the marxist-dominated UC board of regents will force the bruins to lose so much of their badly-needed financial windfall via the B1G merger.
According to Ronaldus Magnus, the scariest phrase in the English language (paraphrasing): “we are from the Government and we’re here to help.”
I have to assume that these stations will broadcast more than one game on Saturdays. Fox has always done games all day and CBS also has done games all day. If this is a format that they show only one game it sucks. Right now the tv schedule is up to almost 40 games on a big weekend, I hope it stays that way and if they send games to the streaming channels that makes it harder, not easier for people to watch.
This is a huge change in direction for college sports. Conferences will have to compete nationally in order to be relevant. The SEC started this super conference thing and the Big10 in order to compete brought USC and UCLA from the West.
Money and exposure played a big factor in the moves.
Will miss the Pac12 traditions, but being able to compete with the big conferences have to make the right moves. The Larry Scott fiasco led to this.
If the Pac12 was a little more competitive in media exposure this would not have happened.
So true, had the Pac gotten rid of Larry Scott sooner things could have been different. What he did to the conference is unforgivable. I feel the blame has to be laid at the feet of the college presidents being so lazy to overlook Scott’s dealings and let it go on for so long. He fleeced the conference for millions into his pocket with very little in return. Now they have to figure out what to do to fix it, if possible, and big decisions by this group of “leaders” does not come quickly or effectively.
usc50, I agree that Scott was a disaster. But, to keep SC, the Commissioner would have had to have the vision to see what was coming (and I think what happened was not hard to figure out if you were expert on how media works) and then started making moves to solve this years ago. The Pac did exactly the opposite under Scott; they acted as if the Pac was as valuable a product as the SEC or B1G (which it was when Scott took over) and never changed that view; they preached equality (which meant the goal was for… Read more »
I wouldn’t be surprised Folt purposely gambled in asking for a bigger cut of TV revenue hoping the other presidents would refuse (they had to due to most of them don’t support their football programs anyway at a expectation level of division 1 in facilities and coaching budgets) so she could use that as a reason to pull USC out. Thank goodness it happened as such or USC football would be staring at an impossible disadvantage being on the outside of mega conference money not to mention the national exposure that would be lost. I look at this as a… Read more »
Jamaica, Nice to hear from you. Think you nailed it. SC’s “brain trust” (led I think by Sosna – who is now running the Detroit Lions) clearly grasped that (1) SC supplied value to the Pac that it would never recapture (it was the greatly underpaid star), (2) SC could capture its value by leaving the Pac for the B1G, and (3) in the changing world of collegiate football, the competitive advantage of the B1G and SEC would monopolize the media coverage, squeezing the Pac to minor league status making it difficult to maintain a national presence and obtain elite… Read more »
RJJ, I live 90 minutes north of Eugene and 50 minutes west of Corvallis. No one has a clue up here what the future holds for both schools. One is angry and demanding not be left behind with the “have nots’ and you can gather who that is. There is hope Oregon’s brand is enough to attract the Big Ten to cut them in. But the market as you know is very little outside of Portland. All the Ducks can do is win big whoever they play in getting top rankings and whatever contacts Uncle Phil has. But I think… Read more »
Are Duck and Beaver fans aggravated directly at the Trojans as the cause of their possible lost-forever-stature, or do you think they feel the Trojans simply got an offer nobody from the west (with or without a Phil Knight benefactor) could refuse?
Don’t include folt in this brilliant strategy, unless you want to call her staying out of the way brilliance.
Resident interesting they denied USC getting a larger share but as soon as USC left Washington Oregon tried to demand a larger Share
Yep Utah, their move was calculated by a hopeful panic reaction by the remaining schools knowing if they lost both Oregon & UDUB, the PAC is finished as a conference, which is still a strong possibility in the next few years. Uncertainty will be causing migraines no matter what TV deal George Kliavkoff can pull off. It just won’t be enough….
I’m interested to learn the final concessions the Cal Regents extract from UCLA.
I love that USC forced UCLA and the Regents into an opposite corners position.