Larry Scott powers up the Pac-12
For much of college football’s recent history, the former Pac-10 (now the Pac-12) has been a bit of a middle ground; firmly established inside the group of BCS automatic qualification conferences, but sometimes overlooked in favour of the SEC and Big Ten thanks to its geography, late start times and television distribution issues. That’s starting to change, though, and the conference is quickly turning itself into a legitimate college football powerhouse.
There’s a lot to like about the Pac-12 these days. They have a range of strong existing teams, and they’re adding new markets this year by bringing Utah and Colorado into the conference. They also have the richest standard television deal of any conference thanks to a deal with both ESPN and FOX, deals with Apple and Google, and a fleet of widely-distributed regional networks that the conference will not only run, but own. It looks like the Pac-12 has not only made it amongst the truly elite, but perhaps even established the standard.
Much of the credit for the league’s rise has to go to conference commissioner Larry Scott, who took over the job in 2009 and has since presided over expansion, TV agreements, sponsorship rights and the creation of those networks. Unusually for a big conference commissioner, Scott has no background in football or college athletic departments. He knows his sports, though. Scott attended Harvard in the 1980s, captained the tennis team and was selected as an All-American en route to earning a Bachelor of Arts in European History. He then took his game to the professional ranks, reaching the 210 slot in the world in singles and getting as high as 69th in the world in doubles (where he also won a title).
Scott’s more impressive successes came off the court, though. Soon after retiring as a player, he took up a position as the president and chief operating officer of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which oversees the men’s game around the world. He then became the chairman CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and helped them strike the largest sponsorship deal ever for a women’s sports organization, hauling in $88 million over six years ($14.7 million a year) from Sony. He also helped successfully lobby for Wimbledon and the French Open to pay the same prizes to women as men, and he helped oversee over $700 million in stadium investment.
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Perhaps it’s partly Scott’s unconventional background that’s seen him become so successful. When he was hired, the Pac-10 leadership at the time emphasized they were looking for change and a different perspective. Scott’s certainly brought that, and the way he’s orchestrated this conference network deal is particularly impressive, as it has the advantages of just about every other college network out there without as many of the drawbacks.
By launching six regional networks, or one for every two conference schools, the conference has plenty of airtime to promote a wide variety of their sports. Keeping networks to a minimum of two schools and ensuring that each school has one avoids many of the conflicts of interests of say, Texas’ Longhorn Network. Setting up distribution agreements in advance means the network should be on most local cable providers and should be easy to find, avoiding pitfalls conferences like the ones the Mountain West have faced with their own networks. Keeping ownership of the network means the schools will fully reap the financial rewards (which could be massive, if the Big 10 Network is anything to go by).
Moreover, Scott appears to have found a great balance between pulling in dollars from existing media outlets and keeping enough quality content for his own network. We’ll see how it goes, but the initial signs are incredibly impressive.
Of course, no conference is without its issues, and the Pac-12 has some notable ones on the football front. Reigning conference champion and BCS runner-up Oregon has had a tumultuous offseason thanks to allegations from the infamous Willie Lyles, which may also involve Cal to a smaller degree. Stanford will have to see if they can continue their resurgence now that Jim Harbaugh has left for the NFL, USC is still trying to return to their glory days and newcomers Colorado and Utah are both in a bit of a down spell.
There’s also the question of the NFL’s return to Los Angeles, which appears to be drawing closer and may have an impact on one of the Pac-12’s key markets. Scott also can’t do much about the time zone, and many games are still likely to be played while the East Coast’s in bed. Still, the Pac-12 seems to be in pretty good hands for the moment. Maybe more conferences should go outside the box for their commissioners, as the former tennis pro seems to be a doing a solid job out west.
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