As realignment wheels spin, do TV networks pull the strings?

Did FOX Sports have a vested interest in the Pac-12 Conference’s demise? Did the network, fueled by its own self-interests, pull realignment strings to create a coast-to-coast superconference? 

Questions surrounding the perceived outsize influence of networks in realignment machinations grew louder in the wake of this dizzying wave of conference hop-scotching – with FOX significantly bolstering and expanding its college football foothold.

A historic Friday saw Oregon and Washington bolt for the now 18-school Big Ten Conference, and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah join Colorado in the Big 12 Conference. The Mountain West Conference is also alive and now uniquely positioned as a prime landing spot for at least a few of the remaining Pac-4 schools: Oregon State, Washington State, California and Stanford.

All of the moves benefited FOX. 

A large share of the Big Ten’s $7 billion-plus rights deal belongs to FOX. Same with portions of the $2.28 billion Big 12 and $270 million MWC deals. The network’s market presence now extends from New York to Chicago and throughout the West, specifically Seattle, Portland and Southern California. 

The downfall of the Pac-12, whose schools mulled an underwhelming rights deal proposal from Apple TV+, benefited FOX by upgrading and expanding the inventory in the Big Ten and Big 12. To be clear, there’s no evidence that Fox did anything improper; the network is doubling down on the nation’s clear No. 2 sport behind the NFL.

Who has the leverage?

But perception carries weight. 

“When FOX is sitting at the table, there is a concern about who has got the leverage,” a veteran college administrator told On3.

FOX did not return an email Tuesday seeking clarity on its role in the realignment moves. 

In a quarterly earnings call with analysts Tuesday, FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch addressed the additions of Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten, saying, “We think these additions will only strengthen our football franchise across FOX Sports, but particularly our partnership in the Big Ten Network. So, we think it’s very positive for us across the board.”

In 2021, did ESPN take actions to ‘harm the Big 12?’

Concerns over networks putting fingers on the scales are not new. 

Only two summers ago, then-Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby accused ESPN of encouraging other conferences to poach schools from the Big 12 to fast-track moves by Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC. In a memorable cease-and-desist letter to ESPN executive Burke Magnus, Bowlsby said the league had become aware that the network had taken actions “to not only harm the Big 12 but to result in financial benefits for ESPN.”

At the time, Magnus called the accusations “entirely without merit.”

“It wasn’t as blatant as Bowlsby was describing,” a source familiar with the situation told On3. “But it wasn’t completely innocent either.”

During the week of the cease-and-desist letter, Neal Pilson, the former longtime CBS Sports president, told On3 that he was sure ESPN at least had an awareness that there could be some dilution or significant change in the Big 12 composition. The network was also aware, he said, that quite a few Big 12 teams lacked a national brand and ESPN had already “voted with its pocketbook” in securing the landmark $3 billion deal with the SEC.

With the then-Big 12 deal not expiring until 2025, there was no reason for ESPN to feel a sense of urgency to rush back to the negotiating table with the Big 12.

“And I’m sure ESPN said, ‘We don’t need to make a deal with you now. We’ll be here three years from now. We’re not sure you’ll be here three years from now,'” Pilson told On3 at the time. “ESPN was not in any big rush to re-up with the Big 12, and the announcements by Texas and Oklahoma just proved that point.”

Fast-forward a little over a year. In October 2022, led by a new commissioner, Brett Yormark, the Big 12 landed a six-year extension with ESPN and FOX that was integral in stabilizing the once-reeling league.

‘TV runs the show’

After last week’s Pac-12 mass exodus, Bob Thompson, former FOX Sports Networks president, tweeted, “TV networks want the best matchups to present to viewers. TV has never had a vote in any team leaving one conference or joining another. Those votes are only made by school presidents and chancellors.”

He added: “Do you really think they [schools] just let TV determine the future of their institutions? If that is the case, higher education is in a very dark and dangerous place.”

But TV networks do sweeten deals with big dollars that fuel college football’s high-octane engine. The conferences with the most lucrative rights deals are the one’s schools, in the words of one source, would “crawl over glass” to join. 

Colorado and Arizona should receive full shares of $31.7 million apiece in the Big 12. Oregon and Washington will initially receive partial shares of $32.5 million apiece in the Big Ten. Meantime, the remaining Pac-4 schools at the moment lack a viable league or a TV broadcast platform after July 1, 2024.

Oklahoma State’s football coach Mike Gundy said the quiet part out loud this spring when he told The Athletic: “TV runs the show. TV pays all of our salaries and all of our scholarships and everything we do. Television runs the market. Whatever they want, that’s what we do.”