Pac-12 football media day moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
Media day is a preseason college football tradition as the head coaches and key players from every conference’s top teams all converge in one city to look forward to the upcoming season. The Pac-12 has unsurprisingly held it in Los Angeles for years but that is changing.
Las Vegas will be the new home of the Pac-12 football media day in 2023, the conference announced Monday.
The decision comes ahead of the final season UCLA and USC will remain in the conference before departing for the Big Ten in 2024. With the two schools leaving, Los Angeles technically won’t be a Pac-12 city anymore.
Despite not having a team in the state of Nevada, the Pac-12 hosts a lot of major events in Las Vegas. Since 2021, the Pac-12 Championship Game for football is held at Allegiant Stadium. The men’s basketball tournament has been held in Las Vegas since 2013 and the women’s tournament has been played in Vegas since 2019.
Pac-12 is in the midst of finding a new media right deal
The Pac-12 conference is trying to find itself a new media right deal, and it has reportedly not been an easy road.
On3’s Eric Prisbell recently wrote about the questions the conference is facing regarding its media rights deal.
If the Pac-12’s dilemma is whether to give the bulk of its best inventory to a streaming platform or a traditional linear network – assuming financials are comparable – the linear network still offers the best opportunity to maximize exposure. ESPN, for instance, would provide the Pac-12 significantly more visibility and, invariably, promote the bejesus out of the league throughout the fall. As Pilson said, “Rights-holders are beginning to realize that the timing still isn’t perfect for taking your full package off linear television.”
But that’s assuming the network offers the Pac-12 an attractive financial package.