Pac-12 Conference releases statement on potential expansion to replace USC, UCLA

On3 imageby:Alex Weber07/01/22

USC and UCLA left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten on Thursday. Which prompted the Pac-12 to look into possibly adding more teams. According to an official announcement by the conference, they’re looking into expansion opportunities. Here’s what their message read:

ESPN’s college football insider Pete Thamel also reported some of the conversations behind the decision to look for expansion opportunities. He tweeted:

“Sources: The tenor of the Pac-12 presidents and ADs call last night was frustration and surprise. Moving forward, the league is prioritizing who is ‘in’ and can be counted on to recalibrate the league, which is on the cusp of a TV negotiation.”

So, a year after saying they were not looking into expanding “at this time,” the Pac-12 is officially considering adding more teams following the USC and UCLA departures.

Pac-12 insider questions future of TV deals

Pac-12 insider Jon Wilner was the first to report rumors of UCLA and USC moving to the Big Ten, which kick-started an avalanche of conference realignment news Thursday afternoon. One of the many moving parts affected by the latest shakeup is the looming TV deals, particularly for the Big Ten.

Wilner joined the SEC Network after the news came out to discuss the consequences of Thursday’s moves on the TV rights deals of the future with Paul Finebaum. Here was what he had to say regarding the situation:

“Well, I think they’re trying to get the details from USC and UCLA. This whole thing [got] done very, very quietly. Incredibly quietly. He’s got to figure out when are those schools leaving and is there any chance they would reconsider, could politics intervene? That’s one thing that I think we don’t know 100% is the politics because Cal and UCLA share a university system and is [California Gov.] Gavin Newsome or Sacramento politicians going to somehow get involved and block UCLA’s move? I don’t know if they can, but that’s something that probably people are wondering about. That’s what [Kliavkoff] has got to do and then he’s got to start thinking about what his options are. My guess is he’s got to get on the phone with Fox and ESPN and CBS and anybody else because … a lot of this stuff starts with the TV networks.”

“They were going to start negotiations as soon as the Big Ten finished theirs. There was a report the Big Ten was going to finish their media rights negotiations by the end of May. And then all of a sudden there was a delay, then there was like this pause. I have to think that the pause was Fox saying, ‘You know what?, let’s try to get the LA schools.’

“So now, I would imagine the Big Ten’s going to wrap things up here in the next month or two. And the Pac-12, in theory, would start to negotiate formally with ESPN and Fox and others. But I don’t know what they’re going to do now. The whole thing is blown up and the Pac-12’s going to have to find a major network that is going to be willing to pay a lot of money for schools that aren’t tethered to Los Angeles. That’s the biggest thing. The nation’s No. 2 media market is no longer in the Pac-12 footprint.”