ESPN President of Content expands on reports of network's failed talks with Pac-12
Recent reports indicated that ESPN and the Pac-12 failed to negotiate a new media deal because the two sides were too far apart in their evaluations. ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus recently expanded on those reports.
Apparently, a Pac-12 president worked with a professor on campus to come up with an evaluation for the conference. That number was $50 million per team, annually. ESPN offered $30 million. It was a non-starter and the two weren’t able to come to an agreement. Magnus told The Athletic that the Pac-12 didn’t even counter their offer.
“Directionally, yeah, that’s fair to say,” Burke Magnus said. “I think the order was reversed. Our final offer, which was rejected, was never really countered back. We went in another direction, as has been documented. Regardless, we thought we made a fair, disciplined and marketplace-informed offer, and we couldn’t get there with them at that time.”
That other direction that ESPN went was with the Big 12. Instead of paying Pac-12 schools approximately $30 million per school, the network gave the Big 12 a $2.28 billion deal. That averages out to be $31.7 million annually per school and helped lure the four corner schools from the Pac-12 as media rights negotiations became too prolonged.
Just before the exodus of schools, Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff presented a largely streaming deal through Apple. Initial revenue estimates for that deal were in the range of $20 million.
Ultimately, the Pac-12 fell apart and is down to just four schools remaining. Magnus admitted that it’s hard for him to say why this happened but noted that some of the movement doesn’t make sense geographically.
“It’s hard for me to say. You know, I’ve always scratched my head over the USC and UCLA moves to the Big Ten. At its core, college is various regional confederations, if you will, of like-minded schools with some geography underpinning it. There’s this regional appeal to college sports which has blossomed into national interest. But yet, at its core, the brands and the schools, and by association the conferences, are regional in nature. I think that’s what in large part drives the interest,” Magnus said.
“Despite all the realignment that has happened over the last two decades, it was the first one that really felt like it was unattached to a geographical rationalization, if you know what I’m saying. It just felt odd in that regard. Given the profile of those two schools and the importance of those two schools to the Pac-12, I feel like that had a big impact on ultimately what transpired.”
Ultimately, it’s also worth pointing out that media networks don’t inherently lose inventory if the Pac-12 were to completely go away. The schools and brands that were in the conference still exist in the sport and ESPN has rights to the teams who went to the Big 12 while Fox has rights to the Big Ten. So, the networks aren’t losing those games.
Remaining Pac-12 teams hired Oliver Luck to consult on next steps
The four remaining Pac-12 schools are in a difficult position. There really isn’t a clear path forward. So, according to a recent report, those schools hired Oliver Luck to consult on the next steps for the conference.
Luck is the former athletic director at West Virginia and was seen as a contender for the commissioner job that ultimately went to George Kliavkoff. He also consulted for the Big 12 in 2021, shortly after Texas and Oklahoma announced their move to the SEC.