Over three years ago, the Pac-12 and Apple reportedly had talks about media rights. Nothing came of those talks, but months later, conference executives said they expected Apple and other digital companies to be interested in those media rights.
A whole lot has changed since then, with USC and UCLA leaving the conference, Texas and Oklahoma bailing on the Big 12, and the Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC all securing new media rights deals. The Pac-12 still doesn’t have a new media rights deal, Apple still hasn’t gotten involved in the college sports space, and once again, the two entities are being linked to a potential media rights agreement.
Per the New York Post, “Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff could present Apple as a possibility to his schools soon,” seemingly as the conference’s sole media rights partner.
Last summer, Apple reportedly wanted to re-enter the Big Ten’s media rights discussions after USC and UCLA announced their intentions to switch conferences, but came up short to CBS, Fox, and NBC.
In recent weeks and months, Apple hasn’t even been the tech company most closely tied to the Pac-12. That has been Amazon, who the Pac-12 was reportedly in talks with last year and consistently gets mentioned as a possible media partner.
Will anything come up these latest Apple/Pac-12 rumors? I really have no idea. But while details are sparse on the talks at the moment, this does feel like the most solid development regarding the Pac-12’s media rights in quite awhile.
