We all understand the Pac 12 is a bit of hot mess right now. Maybe the new TV deal will be that bad. I had been reading the deal is expected to be roughly on par with Big 12 and ACC deals. Now, who knows?
But thinking about the schools in each conference - the Pac 12 has the flagship state universities of five other states (six including Colorado), plus Stanford. The Big 12 has the flagship state universities of Kansas and West Virginia, plus second-, third- and fourth-tier schools from a bunch of states, plus three religious schools. I'll just say that Boulder is culturally a lot closer to Berkeley and Tempe than Waco and Stillwater.
Like I’ve said, most schools don’t leave because they want to but because they feel like they have to for financial reasons.
I don’t even think the PAC had to beat or be even with the B12 deal but just be within striking distance. GK has been stringing it along without details, probably cause he has no choice.
So if you’re a school there’s only so long you can have patience and wait before you become stuck because you waited too long.
I'm sure ESPN/Fox are holding back not only because everyone is pinching pennies but because they can pick up some of the preferred PAC schools and not have to pay any appreciable amount for the rest. Saving money is never a bad thing, whether you're being frugal or not. ESPN can probably pick the leftovers up cheap as filler here and there.
If you're the B10, I think you can then get Oregon/Washington for the B12's 31M price or cheaper. Now do the B10 presidents want to do that now or not? Who knows. I think they should if the opportunity arises but we'll see. They can squeeze them the same way they squeezed us.
Everything depends on whether Colorado is the first domino or the only domino. Does it lead to more or can the PAC backfill enough. SDSU would've been nice to have in your back pocket. It probably still is but maybe not on the same timetable anymore because of the PAC stiff arm.