Arizona president Robert Robbins compares Pac-12's media rights proposal to 'selling candy bars'
Arizona will join the Big 12 in 2024 after the Pac-12 failed to agree on a grant of rights deal
By
Dean Straka
•
1 min read
The exodus of five Pac-12 members to the Big Ten and Big 12 on Aug. 4 wasn't without a final ditch effort by the West Coast-based conference to secure a new media rights deal beyond the 2023-24 athletic season. Members were not persuaded by the proposal, however, which centered around Apple TV streaming service. Arizona president Robert Robbins, whose school will depart for the Big 12 in 2024, even likened the Pac-12's unsuccessful proposal to "selling candy bars" and "Girl Scout Cookies."
"Parts of [the proposal] were very compelling and exciting, and it was Apple, in our backyard," Robbins told reporters Monday. "But the base price -- the guaranteed price [per year for schools] -- the fact that there was no linear [television component] and that it was subscription-based, we were trying to think 'Well, it's going to be like selling candy bars for Little League or Girl Scout Cookies.'"
The proposal presented to Pac-12 members on Aug. 1 -- more than a year after the conference authorized negotiations for a new media rights deal -- reportedly contained a base estimate of around $23 million a year for five seasons, including escalators if certain subscription numbers for a Pac-12 package were met.
Pac-12 members' leadership reconvened Aug. 4 in a final effort to secure a grant of rights, but to no avail. Oregon and Washington promptly announced Big Ten defections before Arizona, along with Arizona State and Utah, announced Big 12 moves hours later.
Robbins, since spring, had expressed hope the Pac-12 could finalize a new deal of greater value than the Big 12's extension with Fox Sports and ESPN in 2022. But he also made it clear that Arizona would not make any decisions on its future until hard numbers were presented.
"For a couple of million, I don't see people leaving," Robbins told CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd in March. "... I think our total will definitely be higher than the Big 12. If I'm wrong about that, is it $5 million [less per year that forces schools to consider leaving], is it $7 million, is it $8 million, is it $10 million?"
Those departing schools followed in the footsteps of USC and UCLA (Big Ten) and Colorado (Big 12). All moves go into effect in Summer 2024, leaving the Pac-12 with Cal, Stanford, Oregon State and Washington State as its remaining members.
