Update: Jon Wilner of the SJM just tweeted that he is now hearing the deal could be even higher than $225 million a year. He is now hearing in excess of $240 million a year and his sources haven't ruled out above the $250 million mark. At $225 million, each team will make $18.75 million per year. At $240 million, each team will make $20 million per year and at $250 million, each team will make just under $21 million per year.
According to the Seattle Times, the Pac-12 is expected to officially announce a new television deal Wednesday. The current television contract for the Pac-12 is $45 million. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News just tweeted that Fox and ESPN are splitting the television rights with football being split 50-50. He also believes the deal will average $225 million per year, a huge increase over the current contract and something that would vault the conference to new heights.
John Ourand and Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal are now reporting a 12 year, $2.7 billion deal with ESPN and Fox.
The Pac-10 Conference has agreed to a media rights deal with ESPN and Fox that is worth more than $2.7B over 12 years, according to multiple sources. A formal announcement could come as soon as tomorrow. The deal, which averages out to more than $225M per year, includes football, basketball and Olympic sports rights. It is more than triple the conference's current deals with ESPN and Fox. The conference is holding some rights back that it still hopes to use for a dedicated channel.
Here is logistically how it will work out according to SBJ:
As part of its deal, ESPN is picking up football and basketball rights, plus rights to a package of Olympic sports. ESPN has committed to carrying an unknown number of football games in primetime on ABC.
Fox picked up football and basketball rights. It will carry football games on its Fox broadcast channel in primetime and on FX. It will carry basketball games on FSN. ESPN and Fox will rotate coverage of the Pac-10's basketball tournament and football championship game. The conference becomes the Pac-12 on July 1 when Colorado and Utah enter the conference.
Let's do the math: $2.7 billion / 12 years / 12 teams = $18.75 million per year per team. To put that in perspective, the SEC signed a deal in 2009-2010 that was worth $18.3 million per year per team.
Wilner, who has been on top of the story from day one and one of the better Pac-12 writers I have come across, believed yesterday that three networks were in the running: ESPN, Fox and Comcast.
What should get fans really excited is what Wilner tweeted last night: "Based on what I've heard the past two weeks, no reason to think that (Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott) Scott won't make good on his promise to get every football and basketball game on TV." With two prominent networks involved like ESPN and Fox with multiple channels, we are going to be watching a ton of Pac-12 sports in the future.
All very exciting news and further indication that commissioner Larry Scott is a good person to be in business with. He has shown he is not afraid to make bold move (conference realignment) and now he is aggressively seeking a revenue stream that would make all 12 teams very happy to be in the conference.