Wilner: Pac-12’s next expansion options — Gonzaga? — after UNLV rejection

He's not reporting there is any negotiating whatsoever and may not be reporting at all. He's just indicating that more than just "silence" we've been told is actually going on right now. Probably just means that the media deal shopping is much further along than expected.

The sticking point is this...Wilner is saying that as long as a FBS team is added from the G5 ranks it does not matter who the 8th member is in the larger picture. He has strong belief after talking to those in the "know" that no matter who the 8th football member is the media payout per school will probably not change by more than $500K.

www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/unsustainable-big-ten-travel-pac-12-media-options-and-more-mailbag/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_wsu-cougars

Wilner -
"My suspicion is the conference will have offers in November, but that doesn't mean the deal will be signed and sealed in the next six weeks.
The more layers involved, the more time required for media rights contracts to be completed. And the Pac-12 is likely to have several layers.
First, it will be a new deal, not the extension of an existing arrangement.
Second, it assuredly will have both linear and streaming components, with the latter potentially taking advantage of Pac-12 Enterprise's production capability.
Third, the agreement probably will feature multiple media companies.
Maybe the conference signs a deal that places football games on The CW or Fox and ESPN+ while basketball games appear on Turner and ESPN+.
Whatever the combination, the Pac-12 will probably have a decent idea of its market value in the next month or so, but the final step could take additional time — perhaps even into early 2026."

Highlights on expansion -

"If the Hotline were forced to bet a nickel on the final school, we'd probably pick Texas State. (The move into Texas makes sense on several levels.) That said, there could be more than one addition by the time everything settles.

And don't ignore the unknown - the potential for the Pac-12 to do something nobody has considered."

"offered Sacramento State membership with a 10 percent revenue share for five years, then split the remaining 90 percent among the other seven schools."