Pac-12 programs have agreed on new Grant of Rights deal, equal revenue sharing; waiting on signatures

The Pac-12 has taken a big step toward an eventual agreement that could keep the league intact through the latest round of conference realignment and expansion.

According to multiple reports, the league’s programs have agreed on the language in the Pac-12 Grant of Rights, which will result in equal sharing of media revenue and a performance-based College Football Playoff distribution.

The schools have yet to sign off on it yet, though, with that likely to occur when a TV deal is finalized.

Prior to ironing out the Pac-12 Grant of Rights, the league had run into numerous issues in trying to negotiate a TV deal that would keep the conference on roughly level pegging with its peers across college football, most notably the Big Ten and the SEC.

One is that many of the top TV options already have lucrative deals in place with other conferences. The Big Ten has a deal with FOX, CBS and NBC, while the Big 12 has a deal with ESPN and FOX and the SEC has a deal with ESPN. As the months have stretched on, various entities have been discussed as a possible TV partner for the Pac-12, including streamers.

John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal outlined some of the problems the league faces in February.

“Here’s the problem that the Pac-12 faces. There was a good deal to be had six months ago, back when you were talking about how far apart the two sides were,” Ourand told Marchand. “In the ensuing six months, all of the traditional television stations — CBS, who had been kicking the tires, is out. FOX, which had been kicking the tires, did the Big 12 deal and [CEO Eric] Shanks told us, they’re pretty set with what they want in terms of college. NBC has its Big Ten and primetime, there’s not a lot there. And ESPN is becoming a lot more cost conscious. There are, as you said, must-have programming, which the NBA falls in, the NFL falls in, certain big college conferences fall in. Right now, it doesn’t look like the Pac-12 is falling into that.

“Then, on the streaming side, all of a sudden, you have Wall Street that is no longer prioritizing gaining subscribers. They want to see profits, whereas you had all of these streaming companies competing against each other to drive up the prices and bidding wars. Now, they have to have a lot more discernment, they have to have a lot more responsibility in terms of what they’re paying so that they’re not overpaying. It’s just a really tough market if you’re a college conference that’s not the Big Ten or the SEC right now.”

Still, that the Pac-12 Grant of Rights is now agreed upon in principle is a big step for the league.