Pac-12 media rights deal: Is the network on the verge of collapse? Fresh updates on the ongoing discussions and conference realignments

The Pac-12 is still waiting for a media rights deal to be finalized as they continue negotiations. However, people have been speculating with the exits of the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins that the conference is on the brink of collapsing.

The conference was expected to have a deal announced before the end of June, but that obviously did not happen. Instead, it is being reported by Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated that they have "accelerated" progress on a new deal and are expecting to have a substantive framework of the deal by the conference's media day on July 21.

This is going to be an interesting move as it essentially guarantees that the Colorado Buffaloes, Arizona Wildcats, and Arizona State Sun Devils (all rumored to be joining new conferences) would wait an additional year before officially leaving. It will be interesting to see what they can land in terms of a new deal, as they are seen as one of the weaker conferences out of the Power Five.

Is the Pac-12 not going to expand?

Pac-12 columnist John Canzano addressed a theory on his Substack that the conference might not want to expand before delivering a television deal, so they would have fewer teams to split the pie in their first year.

"The College Football Playoff is expanding for the 2024 season. The new TV deal is going to bring a windfall to the conferences that participate. Is it possible the Pac-12 doesn't want to split those first-year shares 12 ways vs. 19? That it's waiting because doing so helps make up for the haircut they took in the Comcast overpayment fiasco?"

It is not like this idea is coming out of thin air, as it makes sense after not having the San Diego State Aztecs join the conference before the deadline. Instead, they will be returning to the Mountain West.

"A veteran college administrator (not from the Pac-12) floated that theory to me on Friday as the news about San Diego State landed. He offered that being without Southern California as part of the Pac-12 for one football season wouldn't kill you on the recruiting for TV-deal fronts." h/t Trojans Wire

This is definitely something that makes sense as we wait for more concrete news on the media rights deal for the conference.