CFB columnist claims Pac-12 owes a $60 million payout to Comcast, with four remaining members grabbing an extra chunk to cover damages

It hasn't been the best couple of weeks for the Pac-12. The Home of Champions has seen its membership take a drastic hit that has reduced to only four members. But the loss of programs is not the conference's only headache right now. There's also reportedly a payment settlement it has to make to Comcast.

College football columnist, John Canzano, noted this on his Twitter page. Canzano tweeted that the four remaining Pac-12 schools may get extra payments for “additional costs and damages caused” caused by the recent exits. The reported payment will be from the $420 million revenue due to the conference this year.

Responding to a comment under his original tweet, Canzano wrote, “Comcast eats up $60M-$70M.”

The story behind this Comcast payment goes way back to before the conference realignment triggered the crisis in the Pac-12. It began between 2012 and 2016 when Comcast was overcharged by the conference for licensing fees within that period.

The company did not immediately realize this. When it did, it decided it would not remit any more license fees to the conference until its media rights deal ran out next summer.

Each Pac-12 school is projected to lose out on not less than $4 million within this time frame. Reasons given for the financial error include the conference's relocation of its headquarters to San Francisco.

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Who's responsible for Pac-12's continuous woes?

Of course, fingers are being pointed. The conference already fired Chief Founding Officer Brent Willman and Networks President Mark Sunken. In response, they've filed a lawsuit against the conference. They claim to have informed the former Pac-12 commissioner, Larry Scott, about the overpayment in time. However, he allegedly kept them quiet.

Many of the conference's woes have been traced back to the leadership failure of its former commissioner Scott, who resigned from the role in January 2021 after almost 12 years in charge. A run of bad and miscalculated decisions characterized his tenure as commissioner.

Notably, Scott has been criticized for financial recklessness. A case in point is his unpopular decision to relocate the conference's headquarters into a multi-story complex in San Francisco. The rent cost the schools $92 million over 11 years. No other Power 5 conference was near their office complex at the time.

With the future of the conference in so much doubt, the four remaining schools have a difficult decision to make. Meanwhile, their former conference counterparts will start competing elsewhere starting in 2024.