The Pac-12 is still without a deal with DirecTV to broadcast the Pac-12 Networks, which leaves many of its fans without the opportunity to watch their favorite school compete.
The perceived insensitivity of scheduling games, starting as late as 8 p.m. and road trips for basketball teams as long as five days to accommodate television spots, has drawn criticism from the league’s coaches.
Critics argue the student-athlete is an afterthought, a pawn to the millions attracted from television networks to broadcast the games. A student’s education is not valued as much as a TV deal, in other words.
“I just found out that the game at Washington (that week) is at night, so we will get back at 5 in the morning,” Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said in an Oct. 19 press conference. “I just don’t understand how this happens when you play 12 straight games, then you play night road games and then we are going to play an 8 p.m. road game at Washington, get back at 5 in the morning and then have to go back on the road again.
“If the conference is really concerned about student-athlete welfare, I think someone should step in … I think it’s ridiculous. I mean I understand TV is going to pay for times and they have the right to do it. But don’t go on your soap box and talk about student-athlete welfare and then have these kids get back at 5 or 6 in the morning and expect to go on the road again.”
The Washington Post published an article last week that listed Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott’s salary in 2014 as the highest among Power 5 conferences at $3.4 million. The salary rates of all commissioners has increased by at least 258 percent from 2004. Scott’s salary is 542 percent more than former commissioner Tom Hansen 10 years previously.
The natural response by Pac-12 critics to question Scott’s motives. Does he forsake the value of a student-athlete’s welfare for the opportunity to draw more financial opportunities from ESPN, ABC, CBS and NBC? Does he not have a sense of urgency about finally negotiating with DirecTV because he and the conference are better off already financially, leaving the fans out in the cold?
Does his negotiating power and wealth make the desires of fans, players and coaches miniscule?
It’s a Catch-22 situation because Scott, who is no different than a CEO of a large business, is doing what’s necessary to make his conference grow by leaps and bounds. Without his management skills the Pac-12 might not be where it is today financially.
According to the Washington Post report, each full member school in the Pac-12 received at least $21 million from the conference in 2014, up from payouts ranging from $7 million to $12 million in 2004. The increase in revenue has allowed all of the schools to upgrade their facilities and hire top-notch athletic directors and coaches. Because of that, recruiting is enhanced and coaches are attracting better athletes. That can equate to more victories for fans to celebrate.
“The trajectory and scope of what the conference is doing is now very different,” said Scott, the only commissioner who agreed to talk about salary to the Washington Post. “And, of course, our revenue is different.”
Scott is a forward-thinking businessman, worthy to be paid the most among the Power 5 conferences, hired from the Women’s Tennis Association in 2009 to lead the Pac-12 into its next phase. At that time, the conference had 10 teams without a network. Conference expansion was significant and the need for a league network was paramount to generate more income while marketing the conference.
PAC-12 Commissioner Larry Scott (via USATSI)
Scott hit two home runs in this regard by adding Utah and Colorado in 2011-12 and launching the Pac-12 Network in August 2012.
San Jose Mercury News reporter Jon Wilner reported in September that talks with AT&T and DirecTV broke off because AT&T’s “request for equity [was] too much” and would have compromised the conference’s business model and deals with existing partners.
It’s a quandary in which Scott chose the business needs over the desire of fans with DirecTV to watch their teams play. It’s not all that surprising. Scott is a savvy businessman who does not want to forsake what he has built over the last three years. He believed the current progression of his business model was more important than landing a deal with AT&T and DirecTV.
The Pac-12 Networks is the first and only network owned and operated by a conference.Fox co-owns the Big Ten Network while ESPN co-owns the SEC Network. It’s Scott’s baby. AT&T wanted too much of the pie. The Post reports in the past decade, the Pac-12’s payroll has grown from $2.5 million to $28.4 million, including the staff that Scott has hired to run the Pac-12 Networks.
Salary increases are happening across the board in college athletics, so what Scott gets paid now as opposed to what Hansen was paid 10 years ago should come as no shock.
Scott comes across as the villain with the perceived insensitivity of scheduling and the fight with DirecTV, although in reality, his business model, including partnership with existing sponsors and his marketing of the conference, has boosted the financial state of all the institutions.Fans have the right to be upset over the DirecTV fiasco and coaches and administrators certainly make sense about their concerns over scheduling, but in the grand scope, they are biting the hand that feeds them.
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