ESPN report casts doubt on potential new ACC/Pac-12 alliance |
It's been over a week since the Big Ten moved to grab the Pac-12's Los Angeles schools, and while there's been no shortage of buzz, no accompanying moves have been announced across the college football landscape.
Among the reported countermoves is the ten remaining Pac-12 schools forming a deal with the ACC and ESPN to get their conference in more TV markets -- as its own television network has struggled to get distribution -- and bring more revenue to both leagues along with it. A report from the journalistic side of ESPN on Friday cast doubt on that coming together ($): But no one should hail this potential partnership as some sort of financial haymaker, especially for the high-end ACC schools worried about falling way behind the SEC and Big Ten. It's novel, but unlikely to be a game-changer. One of the appeals to the Big Ten going into Southern California was turning millions of television homes into "inner market," which should command a significantly higher fee for the Big Ten Network. But that isn't expected to be the case for the ACC Network in this arrangement, as the Pac-12 schools aren't going to be recognized as actual ACC schools. Therefore, no significant financial bump. "It's really hard unless they're going out and getting those schools to flat-out join the conference," said an industry source. "Absent institutions coming in individually to the ACC or a flat-out merger, the value created would be marginal." A flat-out merger or addition of schools from the Pac-12, which has not been among the reported proposals thus far, would likely face issues in reworking a grant of rights deal within the ACC and just what league schools would agree to, in light of the current deal that runs through 2036 that contains all of their TV revenue currently. The article went on to speculate that the ACC's move may be to further restructure the revenue to the schools pulling more money in for the conference from football, with Clemson being an obvious beneficiary there. Out on the West Coast, multiple reports have the Big 12 coming for closer geographical programs in Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and former Big 12 member Colorado, with Oregon and Washington two other potential additions to effectively end the Pac-12's run as any kind of power league. The reported "loose partnership" proposal for the ACC and the Pac-12 is billed to include a pseudo-championship game between the leagues in Las Vegas, possibly some new non-conference matchups and more TV distribution for the Pac-12 potentially through the use of the ACC Network's reach. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt, a former Colorado QB, tells @BrianHowell33: “I think that Colorado ends up in the Big 12.” Last week, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ - after USC & UCLA left for Big Ten - that Big 12 could add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado & Utah
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