ASU president Michael Crow details Pac-12 media deal proposal from Apple TV, calls it a "huge, huge, huge thing"

Arizona State University president Michael Crow has revealed in a recent interview that he thought the Pac-12's media rights agreement with Apple was a "great offer."

This summer, Pac-12 needed a new media rights deal, and many fans were curious about what and with whom it would be. Unfortunately, the deal took longer than expected, but commissioner George Kliavkoff promised it would be worth the wait.

When it did arrive, however, the deal meant most games were to be streamed on Apple TV, and member schools were unhappy with the proposal. Five more programs ended up announcing their intentions to join other conferences, leaving the Pac-12 with four remaining members.

One of the schools that left was Arizona State, but Crow told radio host Mike Broomhead he liked the deal and believed it was huge.

Part of the reason why ASU president Michael Crow thought the deal was good as teams could play games whenever they wanted, and all the game footage would be available on demand. Crow said:

"Basically what the Apple deal was is Apple would spend $500 million the first year to take all of the football games, all the men’s basketball games, all the women’s basketball games, in the Pac-12 digitally capture them and make them available to everyone. You could play the games whenever you wanted to play them. That’s a huge, huge, huge thing.

"All of the data from those games would be available. You could zoom in on the player, you could zoom in on great plays. You could be watching all the games at the same time if you wanted."

Although Crow and ASU liked the deal, it didn't stop the mass exodus from the conference.

Starting in 2024, Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC will move to the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will head to the Big 12.

---

Will the Pac-12 survive?

With most Pac-12 schools not being happy with the Apple deal, five more left, bringing the conference to four remaining members. With that, the future of the Pac-12 was not clear, but George Kliavkoff has been adamant the conference will remain.

Recently, it was revealed that the Pac-12 could be adding four or five schools from the American Athletic Conference, which is much-needed for the Pac-12. If the Pac-12 lands those five AAC teams, it will allow it to finally agree to the Apple media rights deal, which ASU president Michael Crow liked.

The Pac-12 is reportedly interested in merging with the Mountain West Conference, among other options, to keep the conference alive.

But it appears the Pac-12 will survive, and the media rights deal is better than many initially thought.