Colorado Chancellor to Denver Post: Our ‘Goal is to Stay Within the Pac-12’
Tick tock, tick tock. The college football world is waiting to see what happens with the Pac-12 television deal, with the league hosting its media days later this week.
And one of the schools that is being closely watched for what its next move might be is Colorado. And on Wednesday, Colorado chancellor Phil DiStefano told the Denver Post, “(CU’s) goal is to stay within the Pac-12 and have a media deal coming up shortly. That’s our goal. And I believe the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 are together on that.”
Meantime, on the TV deal front, DiStefano said some details are expected to be presented to league chancellors and presidents Thursday by conference commissioner George Kliavkoff. This somewhat conflicts with reports from the earlier in the week saying the Pac-12 would not have a TV deal to announce this week.
DiStefano told the Post, “I’m eagerly awaiting to hear what the commissioner has to say (Thursday). But at this point, the 10 (Pac-12) schools are staying together and awaiting a message from the commissioner.”
Colorado has long been a top target of the Big 12, and the Buffaloes, who left the league over a decade ago, have plenty of familiarity with the conference. Brett Yormark has continued to remain coy on his plans, however he has not been shy about continuing to show interest in doing what’s in the Big 12’s best interests, which may include expansion.
With the new Big 12 deal set to pay out $31 million per school starting in 2025, DiStefano was asked by the Post if there was a number that CU would like to see from the Pac-12.
The chancellor said, “You’d like to see it at — I think all along, we’ve talked about (and have been) looking at, what the ACC and the Big 12 (have received) and what the SEC and the Big Ten are getting, and wanting to be kind of in the middle of the pack — probably to be third, behind the SEC. That’s been the goal for such a long time.”
DiStefano added that he had yet to see a “final number on media rights (from Kliavkoff) … that’s why we’re meeting tomorrow.”
Tick tock.
