Pac-12 media rights to hit open market after deal with ESPN and Fox Sports fails to be made
The exclusive period in which the Pac-12 was only able to negotiate with their current media rights holders, ESPN and Fox Sports, has now come to an end without a deal.
This allows for the Pac-12 to hit the open market, which according to Sports Business Journal means they will continue to seek out a new TV deal that also includes streaming rights from a place such as Amazon or Apple. This also allows for other entities to get involved and make offers that could essentially drive up what ESPN and Fox are offering.
Something that the Pac-12 certainly is hoping for as just about a month ago, it was reported that ESPN and the Pac-12 were as far as "hundreds of millions apart" for a new deal. Their current deal is set to end in 2023-24, and the negotiations are expected by Sports Business Journal to continue into early 2023 if it does not happen sooner.
The Pac-12 needs to net a fairly substantial deal in order to appease all of the members looking elsewhere. These negotiations may also force the Pac-12 to finally expand and add new members, to compensate for the the departures of USC and UCLA.
