On Thursday, the University of Colorado announced it would ditch the Pac-12 for the Big 12 in 2024. One Colorado regent said she wished the Pac-12 well, “whatever it is in the future.”
As long as it exists, the Pac-12 will maintain its voting power as an NCAA “autonomy” conference. But it’s looking less and less like a Power 5 by the day. Even then, it perhaps made sense for Kliavkoff to go through a more measured, traditional media rights negotiation process, former Fox Sports executive and media rights consultant Patrick Crakes told FOS.While Kliavkoff was researching, the Big 12 then leapfrogged the Pac-12 in securing a media deal at least a year, if not two, early. It took value and TV slots that the Pac-12 could have had.
The lack of a media deal and grant of rights is a major reason Colorado left. On Thursday, school officials noted a promise of stability and exposure in the Big 12 was extremely enticing. Regardless of who’s interested, “a streamer has never won a bid for anything,” Crakes said. “They’ve only taken what the established system has let go.”