Latest Pac-12 TV deal update sounds like a joke but it isn’t
The Pac-12 TV deal won’t be finalized for a while yet as the conference is now negotiating with an unexpected broadcast partner.
The Pac-12 likes to talk like it’s a serious conference, still worthy of being included among the Power 5.
Then they go and do things like this.
The Pac-12 won’t finalize a new TV deal until “late spring, early summer,” according to The Athletic, because they’re now in discussions with The CW for a broadcast deal.
Yup, that CW, the home of The Flash and Riverdale, responsible for classics like Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl. It’s not exactly the network you think of when you think of football and basketball, unless One Tree Hill counts as a basketball show.
But also, more recently, LIV Golf.
Pac-12 TV deal may now involve The CW
The CW became the U.S. broadcast partner for LIV in January. They are looking to increase their presence in the sports space with a Pac-12 broadcasting deal.
In that sense, a partnership between the Pac-12 and The CW makes sense. One is a conference whose best hope of maximising their TV deal is in finding a broadcaster willing to pay a premium for a foot in the door. The other is a network looking for legitimacy.
Having said that, it’s undeniably funny to think of the Pac-12 getting their broadcast deal with a network most well known for young adult programming. While the SEC and Big Ten partner up with ESPN and FOX, the Pac-12 gets The CW.
That’s the reality when your two biggest brands in football and basketball leave.
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