Weekly Six Pac: Conference Teeters as Arizona Deliberates

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images1. The very fate of this weekly post may hang in the balance as the Pac-12 (10? 8?) teeters on the brink of extinction. Here are the latest updates: George Kliavkoff will present a media rights deal to the Pac-12 presidents, likely at a meeting on Tuesday. The details of the media rights deal are mostly speculation at this point, but the whispers have been for a deal that focuses primarily on steaming TV and might guarantee as little as $20m per school, per year, with the potential for ratings escalators. Meanwhile, Arizona is meeting to decide on their own next steps and it seems very possible that they will announce their departure for the Big 12 in the next few days. Where does that leave UW? A conference with the eight remaining teams- or perhaps 10-12 with further expansion- would be feasible with a media rights deal that earns each school north of $30m per year, in the ballpark of what teams in the Big 12 are getting. If the $20m baseline is accurate and UW and Oregon are stuck with the leftovers, the PNW schools will immediately look for a lifeboat for the Big 10 or another creative solution. Here is more detail from Jon Canzano’s paid blog.

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