Pac-12: The next commissioner has a big job to fix a leaky ship
Priorities
When searching for a new commissioner, the Conference CEO group needs to have their priorities in order so whoever is hired can hit the ground running. These are some of the items which need to be addressed almost immediately because the Pac-12 falls further behind by the day.
It’s a Business
First and foremost comes acknowledging that the next commissioner will run a business worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Big-time college sports such as football and basketball bring in revenues to the Pac-12 that are more than the GDP of over half the world’s countries.
As much as academic types, small sports athletes, and snobs don’t like it, this is the, for lack of a better term, the playing field Power-5 athletics plays on. Big sports are the cash cow that funds so many other initiatives on campus.
The pandemic should have brought that point home loud and clear. Without SEC-like television revenue and no fans in attendance at football games, look how many jobs, sports, and scholarships got the ax in recent months.
TV Contracts
One of the justifications for Scott’s over-inflated salary was that he not only ran conference sports, but he was also the CEO of a television network. Too bad he couldn’t market the conference to sports fans the way he marketed himself to university administrations.
Turning this monster of a problem won’t happen overnight. If fixing the deep dark money pit known as the Pac-12 Network were easy, it would have been done by now. However, there are models the Pac-12 can follow to make the conference much more profitable.
The SEC didn’t get to the point where it could negotiate a concurrent $3B television contract by accident, luck, or fate. The Big Ten and ACC are learning from their example. So should the Pac-12.
Mission number one is to get Pac-12 marquee matchups as much television exposure in prime slots as possible. The product becomes appealing to recruits they can see conference teams play. That, in turn, improves teams and makes them more desirable. It’s a better plan than hoping USC or Oregon can hobble together a Top-5 team every four to six years.
I’m not advocating giving away television rights, but there is enough opportunity to leverage exposure and maximize revenues. If that means devaluing the Pac-12 Network temporarily, then so be it. Under the current distribution deal, most of the country can’t watch it anyway.