Pac-12 Network President Denies Network Was Supposed To Pay More To Member Schools

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Lydia Murphy-Stephans, the outgoing Pac-12 Networks president, said in an interview with Cablefax that conference administrators were never told the network would deliver revenues like the Big Ten or SEC Networks:

“There is a gap between what Pac-12 Networks delivers and the Big Ten Network and the SEC Network. What has to be factored in is the revenue specifically from Pac-12 Networks is only one part of the overall revenue each university receives from the Pac-12.

“I understand there is frustration, though no athletic director or administrator was ever told the Pac-12 Networks would deliver the same or more revenue than what its peer conferences are currently getting from their networks.”

I would bet some athletic directors and school presidents actually disagree. The network was supposed to deliver $5 million per year to each school but actually delivers $1.5 million. And I bet the Pac-12 gave the universities the impression they would have an agreement with DirecTV. By the way,

By the way, Murphy-Stephans made $1.3 million in 2015. Overall, here is how the Pac-12 compares to other conferences in overall payouts for 2017 according to the San Jose Mercury News.

SEC: $44 million
Big Ten: $38 million
Big 12: $34 million
Pac-12: $29.5 million

11 thoughts on “Pac-12 Network President Denies Network Was Supposed To Pay More To Member Schools”

  1. Paying $1.3 million to a parrot is too much. BTW, the wine and cheese commissioner’s job is to create as much profit as possible. He has failed. He needs to go. The PAC 12 network should be on every cable and dish network. Holding it to two networks is not providing and creating revenue.

  2. Sounds a lot like the proposed proffered price logic the LAD got from Time Warner for the televising rights for the Dodgers. No need to ask if the conjured revenue stream is valid – everyone is on board.

    Time Warner is no more and the Dodgers are now 4+ years w.o. a full >2/3rds televising of anticipated subscribers.

  3. The other problem with the Pac-12 Network is the horrendous programming. There is nothing original, just about everything is a replay of some event. Look at the SEC Network on ESPN. There is a lot of original programming. Bottom line, the Pac-12 Network is a Micky Mouse organization run by incompetent fools. No offense, Mickey.

    • There’s so many live Pac12 events that aren’t shown and instead old rerun stuff is on. I’ve never understood that viewer-frustrating approach. Crazy. Truly Micky, though some of the programming is very worthwhile. Just not enough.

  4. I blame AT&T DirecTV for the entire mess. Let’s boycott them.

      • Uverse does but DirecTV doesn’t. AT&T is pushing DirecTV and will jettison Uverse soon. If DirecTV hadn’t lied to me about having PAC 12 I’d still have them.

        • They lied to my father inlaw (USC class of 54) too. Luckily I found out the day before installation and was able to get him set up. They’re lying jerks on top of everything else.

  7. Cable TV is the new 8 track tape.
    Dead media walking.
    Picture the future, live streaming from the sidelines with The Wolfman providing BOTH play-by-play AND insight from the outside.
    Only an SC grad like SW could make this happen.

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