Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott is truly unearthing every rock to gain as much revenue as possible for the league he presides over. Scott has already negotiated the largest television deal in college sports and is currently looking to add possibly $1 billion for the Pac-12 Media Enterprise which includes a Pac-12 television network and streaming online.
Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the next step the Pac-12 is taking may include partnering with Google or Apple and bypassing broadcasting the Pac-12 network on television at all.
Wilner states that the league would be forfeiting the short-term revenue that comes with subscription fees and rely on advertisement money only. The league has the option to be picky since they already have netted $250 million per year deal, and the partnering with Google or Apple could bring more money in the future by broadcasting on cell phones, tablets and computers.
There are other options that the league is considering which is to start a television network from scratch, and that could cost upwards to $100 million. Distribution could also be an issue, but the league would receive all the profits. The third option would be to partner with Comcast or Time Warner and that would net immediate distribution to a larger portion of the country, but the downside would be that the Pac-12 would have to share profits with a network.
A combination of online streaming and creating a network seem to make the most sense and it would most likely net the league the most money overall. Whatever the league decides to do with the Pac-12 Media Enterprises they most certainly will not be suffering for cash.