Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott "asked Fox for approximately $300 million annually for the league's broadcasting rights during the just-completed exclusive negotiating window," according to sources cited by Jon Wilner of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. Fox turned Scott down, "which is why the league is now on the open market." The $300M figure is also a "colossal figure, far beyond what the Big Ten and SEC receive." However, there is "much we don't know about the asking price," including whether $300M annually was "what it would cost Fox for the Pac-12 to not start its own network." Wilner speculated that Scott is asking for $225-250M annually "on the open market, with a Pac-12 Network as part of the package." However, many industry analysts are "highly skeptical about the value-added that Colorado and Utah bring to the table," as they "believe the per-school split would have been greater without expansion." Wilner wrote his "guess is that we're looking at mid-June at the latest" for a completed TV deal, "with the distinct possibility that it will be wrapped up by mid/late May." Meanwhile, the NHL's 10-year, $2B deal with NBC and Versus "isn't bad news for the Pac-12, but it's not good news either." If Comcast "had lost the rights to the NHL, it would have been desperate to land the Pac-12." Wilner: "But you could argue that the deal was good for the Pac-12 because it shows how serious Comcast is about expanding its foothold in live college sports" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 4/20).
