Name Image Likeness

Pac-12’s New Era: Media Rights, NIL, and the Fight to Stay Competitive

A new partnership with Octagon highlights the importance of the Pac-12's upcoming media deal negotiations.

Noah Henderson

Nov 15, 2024; Spokane, Washington, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Khalif Battle (99) huddles with the team after a game against the UMass Lowell River Hawks at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images
Nov 15, 2024; Spokane, Washington, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Khalif Battle (99) huddles with the team after a game against the UMass Lowell River Hawks at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images / James Snook-Imagn Images
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In the world of sports, broadcasting money has become huge. The advent of streaming and on-demand entertainment has turned live sports into one of the few opportunities for appointment viewing and television advertising. In 2023, 98 of the 100 most watched TV broadcasts were sports. This shift in media consumption has led to massive increases in the valuation of broadcasting rights.

For conferences, the negotiators of college game broadcasts, navigating this rapidly increasing valuation was paramount – ineffectiveness by former leadership in the Pac-12 in securing lucrative media rights packages ultimately led to the demise of the conference as big-brand schools fled to conferences that could provide more revenue to their athletic departments.

For the last year, it has appeared that the Pac-12 was on the brink of collapse. Held together by a scheduling agreement with the Mountain West Conference the two non-defecting conference members Washington State and Oregon State limped into the 2024-25 season carrying the Pac-12 logo. Now, after poaching standout Mountain West programs San Diego State, Fresno State, Boise State, Colorado State, and Utah State and WCC basketball juggernaut Gonzaga the conference has new life.

These acquisitions have not come without controversy, and litigation, but as of now the focus of the conference is revenue generation. The Pac-12 has reached a tremendous crossroads: will they regain prominence as a Power 5 school, or will they exist a tier below other conferences once considered their peers.

The Pac-12 media deal will be integral in this determination, which is why the conference has chosen to align with Octagon, a proven leader in the sports industry who has helped secure over $26,000,000,000 in media rights payment. Their experience in collegiate sports is vast, helping seven conferences secure media rights deals including the Big 10 and ACC.

Missteps in media rights strategy spelled the initial collapse of the Pac-12, now, the stakes are even higher. With NIL revenue sharing anticipated to begin next season, schools need all the resources they can to provide direct athletic compensation.  

Most power conference schools are anticipated to find ways to reach the proposed $22,000,000 payroll cap and distribute the maximum payments to their athletes. Group of 5 and Mid-Major programs without the same lucrative media rights contracts are trying to generate as many funds as possible to remain competitive at total payout figures below the proposed cap.

Recruiting in the future of college sports will be less predicated on the development of NIL resources from alumni, but rather, the amount of funding athletic departments can bring in to bolster their pay roll. While anything before the implementation of this new system is mere speculation, it appears that the talent gap between the haves and have nots of college sports will only grow wider in the new system.

The Pac-12’s status as an “in-betweener” makes this a challenging proposition. Their blank slate of media rights presents an opportunity for them to change the current narrative. Creative and expansive media rights partnerships that Octagon prides themselves upon would position them to earn a highly lucrative payout at a time when money will be more important than ever to fielding a competent team, establishing respect for the conferences, and earning money through postseason appearances.

A sub-par media rights deal would further broaden the gap between the Pac-12 and power conferences making it hard to come back during such a critical transition period in college sports. Their partnership with Octagon signals the immediacy and importance of a lucrative media rights deal. With their future payroll on the line, this deal is more important than many realize.

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Noah Henderson
NOAH HENDERSON

Professor Noah Henderson teaches in the sport management department at Loyola University Chicago. Outside the classroom, he advises companies, schools, and collectives on Name, Image, and Likeness best practices. His academic research focuses on the intersection of law, economics, and social consequences regarding college athletics, NIL, and sports gambling. Before teaching, Prof. Henderson was part of a team that amended Illinois NIL legislation and managed NIL collectives at the nation’s most prominent athletic institutions while working for industry leader Student Athlete NIL. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team. Prof. Henderson is a native of San Diego, California, and a former golf CIF state champion with Torrey Pines High School. Outside of athletics, he enjoys playing guitar, hanging out with dogs, and eating California burritos. You can follow him on Twitter: @NoahImgLikeness. 

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