🎧 Listen: In today's episode of The Journal podcast, lainehiggins17 details the downfall of the Pac-12—a story of big TV money, last-minute betrayals, and some 'Game of Thrones'-level maneuvering that will upend all college sports
This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated.
Laine Higgins: Historically, the Pac-12 has been one of the marquee conferences in that, they have a lot of great brands competing for them, and they've won a lot of championships. Laine Higgins: We took a bus everywhere. So you end up having to study for a midterm on a coach bus, in this packed thing with 40 people, while there's a movie going on ahead of you. And it's cold, and you're hungry, and you're tired, and it's hard.
Laine Higgins: Part of the benefit was that, there was this element of provincialism kind of, where you care a lot about the state next to you. I mean, growing up in Minnesota, we had some opinions about Wisconsinites and Iowans. And whether or not that was related to their university or not, that feeling translates to the sport rivalry as well. The practicalities of it, was that it was easier to compete against schools that were close by, and it would cost less money.
Kate Linebaugh: This arms race really kicked off in the early 2000s. At that time, the Big-10, the powerhouse Midwestern conference, struck a deal with Fox to launch its own TV network. Kate Linebaugh: For the last decade or so, that's been the status quo in college sports. A ruthless game, where the big conferences grow, and the smaller ones are depleted. All fueled by a desire for bigger and bigger TV deals. And this game finally took down one of the biggest conferences. That's next. In May of 2021, the Pac-12 hired a new commissioner. In part, to help them keep up in this battle for media rights. A man named George Kliavkoff.
Kate Linebaugh: The schools gave Kliavkoff a July 31st deadline. He was working on two options. One would be a traditional cable deal, the other a streaming deal with Apple. The Apple deal had some risks. The Pac-12 games would be exclusive to Apple TV Plus, meaning, fans wouldn't be able to watch the games on cable. And schools were guaranteed some money, but bigger payouts would depend on subscriptions. Some of the schools had concerns.
Laine Higgins: Oregon and Washington start to get a little jittery. And they actually had been feeling that way, and feeling nervous about their future in the Pac-12 since the previous summer, when the LA schools left. And there's this uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen. Then, Oregon and Washington are like, "I don't know. We just can't do it." And they inform the Pac-12, on Friday morning, that they're leaving.
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