UCLA & USC’s rumored move to the Big Ten would have a titanic effect on the college football world and its TV deals
Another shockwave has been sent throughout the college football world.
First, this would be a potential death blow to the Pac-12 prior to the expiration of the conference’s existing TV deals. Losing both UCLA and USC would be brutal, given that both are among its most successful schools across both football and men’s basketball, the two most significant college sports across the country. It would also cut the conference off from not just the Los Angeles market, but also the entire Southern California market. That would affect not just its standing in the nation’s second-largest market, but also its revenue – LA cable and satellite providers are likely to be far less willing to shell out increased carriage fees for the Pac-12 Networks if there’s no local team (let alone two local teams) in the conference.
Additionally, the Pac-12’s next TV deal will undoubtedly be hurt by losing the LA teams. No longer having an an anchor in that region makes the conference far less appealing to national TV partners, even if you’re just looking at in-market fans tuning in to live games involving those teams. Even if UCLA and USC are replaced by schools in the area (just say…San Diego State and UNLV. Whatever, work with me here), the schools would inevitably be less popular and historically successful than the two departing titans.
As for the Big Ten, the geographically absurd move makes a lot of sense in expanding its footprint. On Saturdays in the fall, the conference could easily run four game windows (noon, 3:30 PM, primetime, 10 PM ET) most weeks, further enhancing its schedule. It also increases the inventory of games for networks, further allowing for the possibility that the package could be hacked up between three, rather than two, partners for football.
Earlier this year, it was reported that CBS and NBC were both interested in getting in with the conference, with the former interested in mid-afternoon games to replace the SEC and the latter interested to pair with Notre Dame games to create weekly doubleheaders. With Fox already on board, it’s easy to imagine a three-partner rights deal with Fox airing games at noon, CBS airing them at 3:30, NBC airing the conference in primetime, and FS1 getting 10 PM games. Or hell, go all-in and add ESPN as a fourth partner to siphon up some basketball games and take those late night games.
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The remains of the Pac-12 and Mountain West could merge, which would make sense geographically. Would the Big Ten actually be able to raid the ACC, given the conference’s TV deal with ESPN and the company’s investment in ACC Network?
Anyway, this probably isn’t the final domino to fall. Those rights negotiations for the Pac-12, Big Ten, and even the Big 12 just got a lot more interesting.
Entire article:
https://awfulannouncing.com/ncaa/ucla-usc-big-ten-pac-12-realignment.html
Serious coin
How much money could USC and UCLA make through media rights payouts in the Big Ten? Both schools could reach -- or even top -- $100 million annually, according to the San Jose Mercury-News' Jon Wilner. The Big Ten has been in negotiations for its next media rights deal, which was reportedly getting into the billion-dollar range. The amount of money on the table is mind-boggling. David Cobb, CBS Sports Writer
It's all about the TV money.
