The demise of the Pac 12 has been attributed to ESPN and media rights, but it seems there may be more to the story that meets the eye.
ESPN reportedly made the Pac-12 teams a $30 million per school for the media rights to the conference, but it seems some of the schools got a bit greedy.
University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce backtracked on earlier statements, firstly telling journalist John Canzano of the Bald-Faced Truth that she said it would be counterintuitive for schools to demand $50 million as leaks have indicated.
She first said it would have been “stupid” and doubted it happened, then almost confirmed John Canzano’s original reporting when she admitted to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News:
“I do not believe many of us expected that we would obtain a basic media-rights offer of $50 million, regardless of what counteroffer was proposed,” Cauce wrote.
Many of them didn’t expect to get $50 million per school from ESPN,” she said.
“They instructed the commissioner to ask for it anyway”.
Where to lay the blame for the death of the Pac-12 is debatable, be it corporate greed by ESPN or universities themselves.
