Colorado, other ‘Four Corner’ schools leave Pac-12’s future ‘murky’
The “Four Corner” Big 12 additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado football leave the future of the Pac-12 looking “murky” according to CBS Sports’ David Cobb — who felt Pac-12 president George Kliavkoff had an underwhelming presentation to university officials from those schools pitching the future TV rights possibilities.
“The already murky future of the Pac-12 will hang in the balance with the remainder of the ‘Four Corners’ schools departing the league,” Cobb wrote. “Colorado, the fourth of those schools, left the conference for the Big 12 last week prior to Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff delivering an underwhelming presentation to university administrators from the league early this week on a future media rights deal centering around a streaming contract with Apple.”
Among the possibilities remaining for the Pac-12 following Oregon and Washington’s Big Ten defections is merging with the Mountain West — which would potentially mean absorbing schools like Boise State, Fresno State, San Diego State, UNLV, and/or others into the fold — or simply disband altogether and see its remaining members fold into the Big Ten and Big 12.
Colorado football sets to gain an additional $12 million in TV revenue from Big 12 jump
As Cobb explains, Colorado football will be getting over 50% more in TV revenue from the Big 12 moving forward than the program would’ve received had it stayed in the Pac-12 based on the projections Kliavkoff offered.
“The Apple-focused media rights package presented to Pac-12 members this week includes tiers of incentivization with a significant upside for teams if certain subscription numbers are met, sources told Dodd,” Cobb prefaced before saying, “However, the financial projections emerging from the meeting are believed to start around $20 million per school annually. By contrast, Big 12 schools are set to receive nearly $32 million annually through their new media rights agreement with ESPN and Fox.”
All in all, CU did exactly what it needed to do to keep the team afloat in an increasingly-competitive world of college football recruiting. Sure, the Pac-12 may die, but Colorado alone isn’t why.