Pac-12 media rights negotiations: Waiting for UCLA, and welcoming Deion Sanders
The conference won’t move forward until the UC regents resolve UCLA’s future. The delay allowed Colorado to add “Coach Prime.”
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LAS VEGAS — Last week, commissioner George Kliavkoff indicated the Pac-12’s ongoing, all-important media rights negotiations would not be resolved until early in 2023.
On Wednesday, he offered an explanation for the timing.
Speaking at a college athletics forum hosted by the Sports Business Journal, Kliavkoff said the conference is waiting for resolution on UCLA’s planned move to the Big Ten.
The University of California Board of Regents was expected to decide whether to approve or rescind the move last month. Instead, the regents pushed back their decision to Dec. 14.
Kliavkoff said it wouldn’t make sense to finalize a media rights deal without knowing if the Bruins will be allowed to proceed with their departure in the summer of 2024.
If UCLA remains in the Pac-12, the league’s valuation would increase substantially by creating access to the Los Angeles media market for interested network partners.
Once the regents issue a decision next week, the holiday season will make finalizing a media deal impossible.
“The media (business) takes the second half of December off,” Kliavkoff said.
There has been no change to the process, he added. Once a media rights deal is reached with the networks, the conference will ask its schools to sign a grant-of-rights agreement. Then comes a decision on expansion.
“There’s no rush, and no need for a rush,” Kliavkoff said. “We are the last Power Five conference with our rights available for the next eight years.”
Kliavkoff also suggested that by waiting, the conference was able to add a football coach before consummating the media rights deal: Deion Sanders, the sports icon, was hired by Colorado last weekend and generated instant attention for the CU program.
“He absolutely adds value (for the conference),” Kliavkoff said.
