Big 12 in position to poach Pac 12 schools?

[Endless Purple]

Don't see why it would be too late for Colorado or AZ to join the Big 12 now or even in December. There are no late or short notice increases to exit fees which is by far the biggest hurdle in switching. Media does not even have broadcast schedule set for this season let alone next. I bet they (the Big 12) could put together a 24-25 conference schedule in a week if it had to be done.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

I honestly don't know what the financial position of ESPN is. I have heard from various Media sources that it is either A.) Spewing cash in all directions, or B.) Coughing up blood and ready to expire. I very much doubt the latter, but they did just shed a lot of payroll. My instinct is that it is doing well, and a very enticing bauble for Iger to be shopping around.

Apple (and perhaps Amazon) is a very good candidate for a sale. Apple has no production capabilities for sports, and this delivers to them plenty of that. ESPN would come pre-packaged with contracts, desirable content, and a reasonably consistent viewing base. It would also serve as a nice advertising platform for the rest of Apple content, drawing viewers they normally would not reach.

That being said, I don't believe it changes the math for the PAC. Such a deal would take a while to consummate, and the PAC needs a deal pronto.

Disney owns 80% of ESPN and Hearst Publishing owns 20%.
ESPN is looking to sell to another 20% minority holder that can help with production and content as they move out of cable television over the next several years and go direct to the consumer.
Disney is not selling ESPN, they have $8b in revenue with a 25% operating margin.

 

[Limey Frog]

That being said, I don't believe it changes the math for the PAC. Such a deal would take a while to consummate, and the PAC needs a deal pronto.

Exactly. Pac apologists seem to have convinced themselves that a) Apple = Pac, and b) Kliavkoff had been working on something utterly brilliant this whole time.

Re: b), he's clearly in over his head.

Re: a), Apple is in the money-making business not the "save the Pac 10" business.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

Don't see why it would be too late for Colorado or AZ to join the Big 12 now or even in December. There are no late or short notice increases to exit fees which is by far the biggest hurdle in switching. Media does not even have broadcast schedule set for this season let alone next. I bet they (the Big 12) could put together a 24-25 conference schedule in a week if it had to be done.

Yes, I believe the secret to taking on late members is an open conference with no divisions (like the Big14); then newcomers can keep most of their out of conference schedules and just schedule the conference.
TV schedules are produced in March/April and announced around Memorial Day.

 

[BrewingFrog]

Disney owns 80% of ESPN and Hearst Publishing owns 20%.
ESPN is looking to sell to another 20% minority holder that can help with production and content as they move out of cable television over the next several years and go direct to the consumer.
Disney is not selling ESPN, they have $8b in revenue with a 25% operating margin.

An important distinction.

 

[Chongo94]

This thread is such an avalanche of nothingness.

I keep checking to see if anything happened and nothing has, absolutely nothing. Reminds me of the supposed penalties that were heading Baylor’s way..

 

[Limey Frog]

This thread is such an avalanche of nothingness.

I keep checking to see if anything happened and nothing has, absolutely nothing. Reminds me of the supposed penalties that we’re heading Baylor’s way..

Check again in two weeks. We don't have an interesting post to show you right now, just these broad concepts. But an interesting post is imminent.

 

[Limey Frog]

Seriously though, here's some more probable non-news: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/07/19/cu-buffs-future-pac-12-big-12-football-rumors/

When asked if there was a target payout number that CU would like to see from the Pac-12, DiStefano replied:

“You’d like to see it at — I think all along, we’ve talked about (and have been) looking at, what the ACC and the Big 12 (have received) and what the SEC and the Big Ten are getting, and wanting to be kind of in the middle of the pack — probably to be third, behind the SEC. That’s been the goal for such a long time.”

DiStefano added that he had yet to see a “final number on media rights (from Kliavkoff) … that’s why we’re meeting tomorrow.”

 

[FloridaFrog76129]

Seriously though, here's some more probable non-news: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/07/19/cu-buffs-future-pac-12-big-12-football-rumors/

Something has to leak out numbers wise before august…

hopefully the big 12 does the right thing and only takes utah and Arizona…we have enough dead weight in this conference with Iowa state / Cincinnati

 

[Obvious Troll]

Something has to leak out numbers wise before august…

hopefully the big 12 does the right thing and only takes utah and Arizona…we have enough dead weight in this conference with Iowa state / Cincinnati

It's lucky for us that excellent Kansas football has kept the Big 12 going all these years.

 

[Palliative Care]

Iowa State did some numbers on us in 20 and 21. So don’t call them a weakling. Teams come and go especially us in the twenty teens. I respect them.

 

[Hemingway]

Seriously though, here's some more probable non-news: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/07/19/cu-buffs-future-pac-12-big-12-football-rumors/

Send him a link to this thread

 

[Limey Frog]

Something has to leak out numbers wise before august…

It seems that way, but then how many times has someone said during this saga that "[thing] must happen before [deadline]" then it doesn't? I understand the skepticism. At this point the same conversation has been going on for 13 months. This thread is 132 pages and nothing really has happened (although in fairness, the thread would be a good 4-5 pages shorter if you removed all the posts complaining that the thread is just a big "nothing burger," and 1/3 shorter without all the posts about actual burgers).

That said, the CU chancellor DiStefano has actually said very little publicly (I can't recall him giving an interview like this at all; this stuff has previously come from Arizona and others). Now, right after the Pac office leaks that there will be no announcement on Friday, he comes out and makes public that a meeting on the media deal will take place today and that he expects to see specific partners and dollar figures. And, inevitably, yet another executive session of the CU Regents is on the docket for Tuesday next week, having been added just this week and with no agenda attached as yet. Again, this is all stuff we've seen before. It's the boy who cried wolf syndrome, etc. etc. The safe money has to be on another bunch of vague statements punting the timeline yet again.

But as of right now, no one in the Pac 12 has an athletics budget beyond the fiscal year that is now underway. And if they are going to need to move elsewhere to get a satisfactory budget, the institutional logistics of that move need to be starting now. So if there isn't something in August, you're committing to accept the Pac's deal no matter what: see it, sign it, no questions asked. I think these quotes from DiStefano are consistent with him having told Kliavkoff that the clock has run out and that the CU Regents will be presented with at least one media deal next week, which will be the Big 12's, and that it's up to Kliavkoff whether they're also presented with one from the Pac.

Or maybe it's all just a bunch of hot air and nothing happens yet again. Probably that.

 

[FloridaFrog76129]

It's lucky for us that excellent Kansas football has kept the Big 12 going all these years.

Kansas would go at least 10-2 in the pac 12 this year.

 

[82 Frog Fever]

Kansas would go at least 10-2 in the pac 12 this year.

Stop being silly. Kansas has barely won 10 games in the last 4 years combined. They just had their best season in 15 years. It was 6 wins & a Liberty Bowl loss.
Just try to be a contributor again, instead of feeding off the rest of the conference.

 

[Peacefrog]

ESPN is not going under, their financials are as solid as it gets. They have nearly $3.2m of revenue per employee. Most Fortune 500s can’t get $1m.
ESPN is not being sold. A minority stake is being discussed. There are several investors interested, but Comcast (a Disney parther) is probably the leader.

Market cap of $160B and net income nort of $1B for each of the past two quarters doesn’t seem like a company in trouble to me. But what do I know? I’m just a simple frog trying to catch some flies occasionally.

 

[Wexahu]

It seems that way, but then how many times has someone said during this saga that "[thing] must happen before [deadline]" then it doesn't? I understand the skepticism. At this point the same conversation has been going on for 13 months. This thread is 132 pages and nothing really has happened (although in fairness, the thread would be a good 4-5 pages shorter if you removed all the posts complaining that the thread is just a big "nothing burger," and 1/3 shorter without all the posts about actual burgers).

That said, the CU chancellor DiStefano has actually said very little publicly (I can't recall him giving an interview like this at all; this stuff has previously come from Arizona and others). Now, right after the Pac office leaks that there will be no announcement on Friday, he comes out and makes public that a meeting on the media deal will take place today and that he expects to see specific partners and dollar figures. And, inevitably, yet another executive session of the CU Regents is on the docket for Tuesday next week, having been added just this week and with no agenda attached as yet. Again, this is all stuff we've seen before. It's the boy who cried wolf syndrome, etc. etc. The safe money has to be on another bunch of vague statements punting the timeline yet again.

But as of right now, no one in the Pac 12 has an athletics budget beyond the fiscal year that is now underway. And if they are going to need to move elsewhere to get a satisfactory budget, the institutional logistics of that move need to be starting now. So if there isn't something in August, you're committing to accept the Pac's deal no matter what: see it, sign it, no questions asked. I think these quotes from DiStefano are consistent with him having told Kliavkoff that the clock has run out and that the CU Regents will be presented with at least one media deal next week, which will be the Big 12's, and that it's up to Kliavkoff whether they're also presented with one from the Pac.

Or maybe it's all just a bunch of hot air and nothing happens yet again. Probably that.

Just my opinion, but people are thinking that what happens to the PAC is way more important to TCU's future than it really is. Like we're all rooting for the PAC to go away or something.

I suppose the PAC losing a couple teams and disbanding would be good for TCU, but would it really matter? I don't really think so. And does adding Arizona and Colorado make much of a difference to the Big 12? Again, I don't think so.

 

[Dman890]

Just my opinion, but people are thinking that what happens to the PAC is way more important to TCU's future than it really is. Like we're all rooting for the PAC to go away or something.

I suppose the PAC losing a couple teams and disbanding would be good for TCU, but would it really matter? I don't really think so. And does adding Arizona and Colorado make much of a difference to the Big 12? Again, I don't think so.

I think adding a couple of state schools would bring a moment of excitement before we realize that none of the 4 corner schools are all that great. I would like more games in Boulder though.

 

[Peacefrog]

I think adding a couple of state schools would bring a moment of excitement before we realize that none of the 4 corner schools are all that great. I would like more games in Boulder though.

I like Tucson as well. Give me both.

 

[Wexahu]

I think adding a couple of state schools would bring a moment of excitement before we realize that none of the 4 corner schools are all that great. I would like more games in Boulder though.

Arizona and Colorado are two of the worst P5 state school football programs out there.

I'm not opposed to either of them. I just don't think it really matters.