ASU President: Apple Offered '23rd Century Star Trek-Thing' in Pac-12 Contract Talks
Arizona State was one of three schools to jump to the Big 12 on Friday, but it appears university president Michael Crow was actually interested in the Apple media rights deal proposed by the Pac-12.
"We were offered a media contract by the Apple corporation, which was a technological 23rd century Star Trek-thing with really unbelievable capability that ASU was very interested in," Crow told reporters Saturday.
Arizona State joined Arizona and Utah in exiting the Pac-12 for the Big 12 this week, continuing a mass exodus from the conference this offseason amid its inability to secure a media rights deal.
The Pac-12's current media rights deal with Fox and ESPN expires after the 2023-24 season. ESPN's Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich reported Tuesday that conference commissioner George Kliavkoff presented members with a subscription-based Apple streaming deal for its new TV contract:
While several options were presented, the Apple streaming deal emerged as the likely leader at this point, bringing some clarity to a lengthy process that frustrated many within the league and ultimately played a role in Colorado's decision last week to join the Big 12. Monetary and exposure questions still loom, though, and outside pressure from the Big 12 remains.
Crow has been a key figure in college football realignment and expansion, specifically in the Pac-12. He had been a strong supporter of the conference, confirming Saturday that Arizona State was "the stalwarts that were fighting for the Pac-12 to the last ditch," according to Wills Rice of Arizona Sports.
"There were a lot of forces at work including the overlords of the media empire that were driving a lot of this," Crow said. "The Colorado departure was indication there was great instability in the media market that created an unstable moment.
"A number of us, including me, were strongly committed to the maintenance of the Pac-12 conference as a thing. A West Coast conference of schools that have been together for over 100 years, playing together in a regional environment, committed to similar objectives about student athlete success."
Crow added that the departures of Oregon and Washington from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten over the last week put the conference in a "non-viable position," propelling the Sun Devils to search for a new home.
"We were very interested in ASU on finding a way to connect with more people, but we have to be in a viable conference to do that," Crow told reporters. "Once Oregon and Washington decided to go to the Big Ten, the conference was no longer viable. You can't be in a non-viable position for more than a few hours in our mind, so we resolved that."
USC and UCLA announced their departures from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten in December 2022, becoming the first schools to exit the conference. They are expected to make the move in 2024.
Arizona State, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington joined the Trojans and Bruins in announcing their departures from the Pac-12 over the last 18 months, leaving the conference with just four remaining schools—Oregon State, Stanford, Washington State and Cal.
However, it seems increasingly likely that those four schools exit the Pac-12 for greener pastures.
According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, the Big Ten is "contemplating whether to stand at 18 or consider adding Stanford and Cal, or possibly any ACC schools that may leave."
At this point, it seems like only a matter of time before the Pac-12 folds.
