Four teams set to join the PAC from the AAC?

So you think the MWC with 3 unwanted Pac teams is worth what the Pac 9 was? That seems like a stretch

I'm guessing at this, but my thinking is that the first decision each of the PAC 4 schools needs to make is whether they want to stay with the other 3 and build, or go elsewhere on their own. So each school individually, and the conference acting collectively, will have been exploring those options.

If Oliver Luck has indeed said that he is working just for OSU and WSU, one would think that indicates those two plan to either stay in the PAC together or move elsewhere together. And I expect that Oliver's main job is to negotiate with others about joining the PAC, not the PAC teams joining other conferences.

So he'll have 2 basic questions to ask others: Will you do such and such if the PAC is just 2 schools, or will you do this and that if it's 4 schools? Then, assuming he gets tentative agreement to this and that, he has to sell Stanford and Cal on it as well. But nothing would happen definitively until Stanford and Cal either recommit to the PAC or ride off into the sunset.

The main bargaining chip Oliver has is control of how the $420 million is disbursed. Cal's finances are apparently already so bleak that staying in the PAC and getting a larger cut of that is perhaps what would tip them toward staying. And dangling some of that money in front of others might be what would allow Oliver to get them to agree to such and such or this and that.

I don't know if this has been mentioned anywhere, but a merger of the PAC 12 and the Big 12 into one super-conference might be appealing to both. It would cover an awful lot of real estate, and be readily divisible into regional divisions. Travel wouldn't be too onerous, and schools could continue to play more regularly against schools with whom they have some history. The PAC 12 network is poorly run, but its very existence would have to be a plus from the perspective of the Big 12.

But it will probably never happen.

Where are you getting those 8 million buck numbers? Every article I have seen says the MWC TV media deal is roughly 4 million a team, with BSU getting more. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/aztecs/story/2020-01-09/mountain-west-new-broadcast-rights-deal-cbs-fox-san-diego-state-craig-thompson

There are likely other sports media monies coming in - radio contracts, NCAA/G5 distributions and such, so it's possible you are seeing total media distributions including those outside of the actual TV contract (somebody the other week said OSU takes in over 30 million off the current TV deal, not the case, the TV deal portion alone is significantly less).

The main arguments I and at least a few others are making are:

1) The PAC Whatever has more brand value than the MWC and can command a higher TV media deal, even if its the same exact teams.

2) Apple is rumored to still be interested in the PAC remnants with added teams. The MWC is basically stuck and can basically only renegotiate its current contract with companies who have potentially limited reason to up the deal.

3) If the PAC does not dissolve, the remaining
teams continue to draw moneys from already finished postseasons for the next 5 years. That's a lot of dough for those who stick it out.

So I keep hearing that the Pac/MW valuation would be the same deal as offered with the Pac 9. The main value in that initial offer is gone......I get there would be more volume, but does that volume add up to the previous value?

Apple, or any subscription service, would look at things differently than a network would. If a network pays a conference $30 million a team for football, they are looking at how much more than $30 million they can get from advertisers over the 3 months of the season. After that, they presumably would be offering advertisers different rates for different content.

Apple, I would assume, is all about adding subscribers. To do so, they have to offer them something that they can't get on network TV. So college football conferences can readily fit the bill. So if they sign the PAC, they offer subscription services like Comcast does - if you sign up for 2 years, it costs X dollars per month; if you want to go month to month, it's X + Y dollars per month, and every time you sign up anew there's a fee.

Assuming most people would take the (seemingly) attractive annual deal, they're generating revenue from football 12 months per year, not just 3. If they wind up with a lot of small markets as would be found in the MWC, they immediately gain a strong foothold in those large geographic areas with very little marketing expense needed to maintain it.

Note that they could use the PAC 12 network to produce content as part of the deal, and then could easily segue into basketball, baseball, and gymnastics for the other months. That would certainly provide more revenue to the member schools than the PAC 12 network does now.

And Apple has deep, deep pockets, folks. They might well be willing to roll the dice for the chance to gain some traction in a lot of places.

Just another step to widen the gap between the haves and have nots.