Paul Finebaum says Pac-12 is at a "tipping point" amid conference expansion rumors

The Pac-12 has been making headlines for all of the wrong reasons as of late.

The conference is struggling to find a media rights partner to pay them the amount they were hoping for, and other conferences such as the Big 12 and the Big Ten are circling like sharks waiting for the Pac-12 to bleed out. Something has to give, and soon.

A topic discussed by ESPN analyst, Paul Finebaum, on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. Finebaum even went as far to talk about how crucial of a time this is for the Pac-12 saying:

“I think it’s at a tipping point, Cole, and it’s all about your media rights deals,” Paul Finebaum said.

He continued saying:

“[George] Kliavkoff has been dealt a bad blow and I think some of it’s his fault, most of it’s not. Most of it was created by ten years of negativity, which led to them losing their biggest brand last summer in Southern Cal.”

He also detailed that because the conference lost USC (shoutout Larry Scott), and the fact that the conference is out west in a southeast/east coast market, that the time slots available are not ideal. A reason I firmly believe the conference needs to add SMU and Tulane to expand into another time zone.

Finebaum did however make a fair point about the conference's overall brand not being the same without USC saying:

“So, there’s not a lot of attractibility to this league, and I think some of it’s obvious. If you’re televising the Pac-12, it’s usually not in a good time slot because of the difference in the time zones, and I just don’t think they have a lot to offer, either, even if they expand, which, obviously, they’re probably going to, it may help on a local to regional level but it doesn’t help their national brand very much. And I think that’s their biggest problem.”

When asked if he were able to, would he add the Pac-12 to his network, Finebaum declined saying:

“I would have limited interest to do with them what ESPN currently does for football. To have games at 10:30, 11:30, whatever time it is on Saturday night. That’s not a great time slot for most people, Greg, but it is a good time slot for the middle to western part of the country when there’s nothing else on. Beyond that, no.”

The belief around the country is that the Pac-12 is destined for some kind of media rights deal with ESPN and a streaming service like Amazon or Apple. The conference absolutely needs to expand in order to help make whatever their next move is, be less temporary than it already might be.