Washington State President sets deadline for long-awaited PAC-12 TV deal

The president of Washington State, Kirk Schulz, has expressed his anticipation of reaching a conclusion regarding the Pac-12's upcoming television agreement. During the university’s board of regents meeting on Friday, he revealed the deal should be sealed "by the end of this month."

The delay in the television deal has sparked a series of concerns among member institutions. This is coming at a time when the conference is seeing two of its biggest programs, USC and UCLA, exit to realign with the Big 10 after over 100 years as a member.

However, Schulz's statement on Friday brings some calm to the situation. He had earlier cited media and tech layoffs as the cause of the delay in the conclusion of the deal. In addition, he provided a rare public clue regarding the potential monetary value of the agreement.

“At least the projections (AD) Pat Chun and I and others have seen. I’m not sure that it will be a lot larger than we saw in the past, (and) it shouldn’t be smaller than in the past. It may be fairly flat.”

Schulz refrained from providing additional details. However, it is worth noting that in the 2022 fiscal year, the Pac-12 conference disclosed revenue of $385.6 million. This revenue was generated from its media rights contracts with ESPN, Fox, and the Pac-12 Network.

Timing-wise, the upcoming TV deal seems a favorable agreement that could play a significant role in safeguarding the future of the conference. In anticipation of a potentially unsatisfactory outcome, Pac-12 members Colorado and Arizona have been exploring options and engaging in discussions with the Big 12 conference.

Schulz's recent statement regarding the end-of-month timeline is part of a series of similar remarks made by him and other conference presidents, dating as far back as March. However, none of these previously-mentioned timelines have materialized as expected.

Kirk Schulz granted a bigger WSU media right limit with respect to the new Pac-12 deal

Concluding their two-day retreat in Pullman, the WSU Board of Regents held an extensive meeting on Friday. The issues surrounding the university athletic media rights were comprehensively discussed at the meeting.

One of the items on the agenda was granting authorization to President Kirk Schulz to enter into contracts or any other agreements pertaining to the university's athletic media rights. It was acknowledged that the president currently possesses a general contracting authority of $5 million.

Considering the projected Pac-12 TV deal value of approximately $30 million per school annually as well as the infrequent nature of the Regents' meetings, it becomes imperative to provide President Kirk Schulz with authority that exceeds the current limit of $5 million.