On a new edition of the Sports Media Watch Podcast, host T.J. Rives and Jon Lewis — a.k.a. “Paulsen” — of Sports Media Watch return to first discuss the latest news and TV ratings and talk with Pac-12 reporter Jon Wilner about the latest developments in conference realignment.
Jon weighs in on the depth of the Big Ten as a TV ratings draw, then the guys talk briefly about the NFL, as it readies for week four and the end of the first quarter of the season. T.J. discusses the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having to relocate to Miami due to Hurricane Ian. Will the Bucs-Chiefs Sunday night game remain in Tampa or move to a neutral site? We have the latest for Wednesday/mid-week.
After that, a conversation with Jon Wilner, college football writer and Pac-12 insider for the San Jose Mercury News. Wilner discusses how he broke the story nationally of USC and UCLA defecting to the Big Ten and has thoughts on what happens next with the Pac-12. Wilner, on Amazon’s interest in the Pac-12:
I honestly do not know the degree to which Amazon is interested. I kind of assume that there is some interest because they were certainly interested in the Big Ten, right? They made a good bid and the Big Ten said no thanks. So is the majority of the interest in that kind of partnership being pushed by the Pac-12 or is it being pushed by Amazon? I don’t honestly know. Certainly I think the Pac-12, if you ask them what is their ideal, my guess is that their ideal would be some kind of mix between ESPN and Amazon.
Plus, Wilner discusses the state of negotiations:
When the Pac-12 announced on July 5 that it had authorized the commissioner to begin negotiating its media rights deal, it never actually gave a timeline … My sense has always been that there was an agreement between the conference and the two partners that they would wait for the Big Ten’s deal to get done first so ESPN and FOX knew exactly who was getting what and how much money was available … My sense was the Pac-12’s 30-day window started right about there [the Big Ten deal was announced in late August]. So it would have come to a close probably in the last week or so. The fact that we don’t have a deal announced suggests that they have just started to go out onto the open market to see what they can get. When you factor in that process alone, plus they have to calculate for expansion, I think it could be a couple more months. … I bet you it goes maybe past the football season before we know what’s going to happen.
It’s all part of the newest Sports Media Watch Podcast and make sure that you are following/subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, etc.
