Truthfully, we are all going to have to just let this play out before we find out what was and wasn’t a mistake through this negotiation process. None of us aside from those in the negotiating room can really be sure of that. Are you sure there isn’t any possibility of a missed opportunity or two? The due diligence of looking into who is available and what they could bring would take some time to investigate. Obviously, much like signing a tv deal, I don’t believe the Pac-12 would take just anyone to fill open spots in the conference. Do they invite replacements? Who would those replacements be? The Pac-12 also needed some time in my estimation to decide what they wanted to do about USC and UCLA leaving. We’ve already talked about their desire to explore the world of streaming and why that can take some time. So why get a year jump on it? In all honesty, from my perspective, the Pac-12 had/has a couple of bigger things to look into before signing a contract that takes some time to sort through. I was also told that likely means the conference wouldn’t have started the negotiating process until about now if they hadn’t opted to start it earlier instead. “Time is running out…”Īccording to sources that have worked in the tv sphere and know a bit about negotiating these kinds of contracts, the Pac-12 has up until next year when the old contract expires. Since the Pac-12 took their rights to market there has been a lot of talk about them being “on the clock” or having a “tight timeline” in order to get a deal done. I know at least one of the partners we were talking to said, ‘We’re ready to sign today, but the optics of us announcing that we’re laying off X number of people and we signed a multimillion-dollar deal with the Pac-12 are just not the best, so we’re going to have to wait six weeks.'” Let’s Talk About The “Timeline” It’s the uncertainty in the economy, the layoffs in the tech sector and other places. President Schulz spoke of the sensitive optics of announcing a major television deal worth millions of dollars while network(s) are currently laying off employees. There may be another bit of a snag in the Pac-12 announcing their deal according to Washington State President Kirk Schulz last week. I do believe we are getting to that final time, but I’ve probably said that a few other times, but we aren’t going to take any deal. It is my belief that negotiating the finer details of the contract has been the reason for the hold-up when it comes to an announcement.Īs Utah Athletic Director Mark Harlan said a little over a week ago on The Saturday Show on KSL Sports Zone. That belief was recently solidified this past week by someone on the national television level, and another source from the Utah level- neither of which would know each other, making it compelling to hear the same thing twice from two different places. It has been my belief for a while that the Pac-12 has a pretty good idea of where they stand and that hasn’t changed in months. This leaves room for more back and forth with lawyers, negotiating terms, etc. Unlike your traditional linear TV that already has a precedent that makes contracts fairly easy to negotiate, streaming is a new frontier with no set precedent. I noted last time that the Pac-12 has dabbled in some fairly uncharted territory when it comes to sports broadcasting and streaming.
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