Pac-12 expansion, realignment: Arizona State AD addresses speculation amid media deal saga
The Pac-12 has been embroiled in speculation amid the conference's inability to secure a new media rights deal for its 10 remaining members.
Could we see some clarification for the conference soon?
Arizona State Athletic Director Ray Anderson offered some thoughts on the state of the conference in an interview with Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Thursday that shed light on the media rights issue.
“Certainly, we’re all anxious to have something resolved here in the next couple, three weeks, so we can take next steps and get some of this speculation out of the air in regard to what other conferences may be thinking in terms of trying to pick off Pac-10 teams, if you will, and what we may do in terms of adding institutions,” Anderson told the Bickley & Marotta Show. “Getting a media rights deal will clear the air for figuring out some of that other stuff.
"We’ve just been forced like everyone else, unfortunately, to let this thing play out because we’re not directly in the driver’s seat. That being said, we have confidence our commissioners and our presidents and chancellors are going to get to a place where a media rights deal and a grant of rights is done. It may not be the projections originally contemplated but will be a solid enough financial situation to keep this conference together and then (we will) really work hard to move forward positively.”
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Speculation has swirled around the conference and its future amid the media rights situation, with Anderson's own school in the middle of the chatter with predictions that Arizona State, along with Arizona, Utah and Colorado, could leave the conference for the Big 12, if it doesn't get what it wants in the media deal.
Oregon and Washington have often been linked to the Big Ten, and there's also been rumors of a possible merger between the ACC and Pac-12 or the Pac-12 leftovers and the Mountain West.
Anderson expressed his frustration with the situation on Arizona Sports.
“We’re managing it by being patient and letting the process with our new commissioner take its course. It’s been challenging and it’s been frustrating, I don’t think anybody can deny that,” he said.
“And so we’ve had to be patient because, very frankly, we’re not in control. We certainly believe in the value of this market and certainly the value ASU as an institution brings to the Pac-12 conference.”
Big 12 realignment, expansion: Pac-12 school additions would alter look of conference
USC and UCLA are joining the Big Ten Conference, leaving the Pac-12 without two of its premier athletic programs and hurting the conference's appeal to potential media partners.
It was recently reported that the conference could potential go to an all-streaming option for games, with Apple TV+ a potential partner.
The 10 remaining Pac-12 Conference schools recently released a statement saying that they are "united in our commitment to one another."
Will it stay that way amid the conference's struggles to obtain a media deal it deems worthy of its teams and amid the intensifying speculation surrounding some of its member institutions and other conferences?
Pac-12 expansion prediction: Makeover for conference
Big 12 expansion prediction: 4 Pac-12 teams to join conference
Big Ten expansion prediction:2 more Pac-12 teams to join conference
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Pac-12 expansion, realignment speculation: Arizona State AD 'anxious'
