Pac-12 and ESPN are reportedly “hundreds of millions apart” for new deal
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Despite recent reports that the Pac-12 has had their sights set on some sort of deal with Amazon, they are still in the midst of negotiating with ESPN for their new media rights deal.
Negotiations that according to the New York Post's, Andrew Marchand, are not going well at the moment. The conference is in the process of attempting to negotiate a new deal after the stunning news that USC and UCLA will be joining the Big Ten. This of course has led to expansion talks, but it has also led to other conferences such as the Big 12 breathing down the neck of the Pac-12 in order to potentially poach a handful of teams. All of the issues the Pac-12 are facing at the moment, with only have 10 teams and schools possibly looking for a way out has likely hurt them in their negotiations .
However, it was not until this week that we learned how much it could be hurting them as Marchand explained on The Marchand and Ourand podcast, that ESPN and the Pac-12 are “hundreds of millions apart" in their negotiations for a new deal.
This certainly coincides with what was being reported by 247Sports' Jason Scheer, back in July, when he reported the amount of money offered by ESPN per school was $24.5 million. A mark that the Pac-12 needs to be much higher as according to Front Office Sports, they are hoping for a deal that would allow it to increase its per-school payout, which was nearly $33 million in 2020.
The Pac-12 has been very private about their moves, but regardless of where they stand in negotiations they may need to start making expansion moves, as well as ramping up negotiations with ESPN even to ensure that they can prevent poachers or schools leaving for greener pastures. Or, maybe that Amazon deal is their best option.
