The new Pac-12 media rights deal is on hold until a decision is made regarding UCLA’s proposed move to the Big Ten. Also: MLS moves closer to a linear TV deal; Copa América 2024 will be hosted by the United States; NBC makes a minor update to its logo and typeface.
Pac-12 to wait for UCLA decision
At a college athletics forum hosted by the Sports Business Journal Wednesday, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said that the University of California Board of Regents’ delayed decision on UCLA’s potential move to the Big Ten — which will not be made until next week — is the reason why the conference has delayed its media rights announcement until early next year. With Los Angeles as the biggest media market in the Pac-12’s arsenal, Kliavkoff said that it made no sense to finalize a deal with that decision.
Kliavkoff indicated that he was in no rush as the Pac-12 is “the last Power Five conference with our rights available for the next eight years.” (Wilner 12.8)
MLS linear deal trends toward Fox, away from ESPN
Per New York Post reporter Andrew Marchand, Major League Soccer is closing in on a new linear TV deal that will be solely with FOX and will not include ESPN. ESPN has partnered with MLS ever since the league’s inception in 1996.
Marchand indicated that due to Apple’s new 10 year, $2.5 billion dollar deal with MLS, a necessary component to a linear television deal will be to help advertise Apple TV+. That factor is not believed to bother FOX as much as it would ESPN, who compete directly with Apple through ESPN+. (Marchand/Twitter 12.7)
US to host 2024 Copa América
According to a report from Fox Sports Mexico, CONMEBOL has invited the United States to host the 2024 Copa América. There were previous talks that indicated a desire for all three of the 2026 World Cup hosts to play as guests in the 2024 continental championship for South American soccer supremacy. Ecuador, the previously scheduled hosts, pulled out in November, creating the opening, while the report also states that Canada and Mexico will be included in the tournament.
It will not be the first time a Copa América will be held outside South America. The 2016 Copa América Centenario also took place in the United States, with the Chile-Argentina final earning a combined audience of 9.8 million, including 3.0 million on FS1 — at the time, Fox Sports’ largest audience ever for a men’s soccer match that did not involve the United States.
The news is a boon to FOX, as they possess the Copa América US English-language television rights from 2021-2026. (Front Office Sports 12.7)
NBC makes small tweak to logo, font
NBC has started rolling out small changes to its peacock logo and font typeface, the first change to the former since it debuted in 1986. Changes include removing the white border from around the peacock’s colorful feathers, while also rebalancing the space between feather, and making the “beak” of the peacock in the purple feather more obvious by slightly extending it outward.
For the font, NBC made the letters bolder and increased the spacing between the letters slightly. (Newscast Studio 12.7)
