Here were some of the key topics Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott covered this morning at Pac-12 Media Day:
On future TV contracts:
"When it comes to media, I think we're all noticing there's an unprecedented shift occurring in the media landscape and in consumer habits. While this creates uncertainty, it also creates tremendous opportunity, and because we own and control all of our media rights and have all of our rights coming up in 2024, we continue to feel very good about how we're positioned for the future. While we recognize during these changing times and paradigm shifts, we've faced headwinds on distribution with the Pac-12 Networks, as a whole when it comes to media, we've got strategic patience and we're going to be able to take advantage of these positive media trends, new players in the marketplace, and the increasing value that we see in our rights, especially as these new players from technology and media come in and are aggressively bidding for sports rights.
"That's why, as many of you know, we've recently been through an exploration process looking at potential strategic media partners, even before 2024. We've been delighted with the great interest that's been generated and attractive bids and valuations that we received from a diverse group of some of the most respected media companies as well as new technology players. And as of today, we continue to narrow the field of companies that we're talking to that could provide important strategic value and revenue to our members. We may or may not ultimately do something before 2024, but we've got the optionality to be able to consider these things because of our ownership and control."
On future bowl arrangements:
"We also expect to announce shortly our full lineup that we anticipate will be enhanced in several respects. Of course we are honored to have the traditional anchor of the Rose Bowl Game, the storied Rose Bowl Game as the Pac-12. We've already announced an extension with the Alamo Bowl, which follows the New Year's Six placements. We'll see the Pac-12 No. 1 team against the Big 12's No. 1 team. I was pleased to be in Las Vegas with my colleagues from the SEC and the Big Ten and have a chance to announce an arrangement, an elevated bowl arrangement in Las Vegas at the new Las Vegas Stadium that will see the Pac-12's No. 2 and No. 3 play against the top pick from the SEC. ...
"We're in the process of renewing and extending agreements and maybe some new ones along the way, with the exception of the Las Vegas Bowl. We've had a great relationship in Las Vegas, playing against a Mountain West team. Everyone has come together to really elevate that game, so it's going to move up in our lineup, and our second or third team after the College Football Playoff. And, notably, this is the first time we've ever had a bowl tie-in against an SEC team. So I know that will not go unnoticed for many of you in the room.
"I think fans have been clamoring for a long time to see the Pac-12 go head to head in a bowl tie-in with the SEC. So it's no small step that we've finally been able to achieve that, thanks to the help of our friends at the Raiders, ESPN that's involved in the game, MGM, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors, and work with the Big Ten to make that an alternating game.
We're going to announce the full bowl lineup very soon. We just didn't have all the I's dotted and T's crossed with those agreements before Media Day, so there will be more news to follow."
On findings from the recent independent review of Pac-12 officiating:
"[We had] a recently completed independent football officiating review, which was conducted by a firm which specializes in making recommendations about officiating and other programs. The Sibson review was independent and comprehensive in scope, looking at all aspects of the Pac-12 officiating program, and it's part of our continuing effort to continuously review and improve our football officiating. Our work began in February and included benchmarking against the NFL all four of our peer conferences. It benefited from detailed input from all of our coaches, all of our athletics directors, current and former officials and other key stakeholders.
"As you'll see in the report, a summary of the findings, which are being released, Sibson conclude that the Pac-12 officiating program is fundamentally sound and predominantly consistent with industry best practices. At the same time, they identified several very important areas that could be and need to be strengthened further. We're releasing the summary of the findings as we speak and the detailed recommendations that we'll be acting on. And I'd like to highlight four for you right now so as you have a chance to look through it, you'll have a sense of the headlines.
"Going forward, we're changing our organizational structure to a more independent structure for our football officiating, whereby the head of Pac-12 football officiating will have a direct line to myself as the commissioner and not be reporting to our football administrator.
"Secondly, there will be a very detailed manual codifying all the policies and procedures involved in collaborative replay that will also be released in the next several days or weeks made available to the public, as well, of course, to our coaches, administrators, detailing exactly the processes and procedures that will be followed for collaborative replay, which will eliminate the possibility of an incident like we had last year in the Washington State-USC game.
"Thirdly, there will be significant enhancements to training programs for officials and more consistency in grading and training in the officiating and from our supervisors. And there's going to be a shift in our communications protocol when it comes to officiating, with more transparency and public comment around significant calls or errors that either impact player safety or the result of the game.
"We are also going to be monitoring closely what the SEC is doing with their Twitter feed and their other external communications, and we'll see if we want to make further adjustments in the future. But for us this will be an important step forward in terms of how and when we communicate based on the significance of any egregious errors that have an impact on player safety or the outcome of the game."
Continued ...
On future TV contracts:
"When it comes to media, I think we're all noticing there's an unprecedented shift occurring in the media landscape and in consumer habits. While this creates uncertainty, it also creates tremendous opportunity, and because we own and control all of our media rights and have all of our rights coming up in 2024, we continue to feel very good about how we're positioned for the future. While we recognize during these changing times and paradigm shifts, we've faced headwinds on distribution with the Pac-12 Networks, as a whole when it comes to media, we've got strategic patience and we're going to be able to take advantage of these positive media trends, new players in the marketplace, and the increasing value that we see in our rights, especially as these new players from technology and media come in and are aggressively bidding for sports rights.
"That's why, as many of you know, we've recently been through an exploration process looking at potential strategic media partners, even before 2024. We've been delighted with the great interest that's been generated and attractive bids and valuations that we received from a diverse group of some of the most respected media companies as well as new technology players. And as of today, we continue to narrow the field of companies that we're talking to that could provide important strategic value and revenue to our members. We may or may not ultimately do something before 2024, but we've got the optionality to be able to consider these things because of our ownership and control."
On future bowl arrangements:
"We also expect to announce shortly our full lineup that we anticipate will be enhanced in several respects. Of course we are honored to have the traditional anchor of the Rose Bowl Game, the storied Rose Bowl Game as the Pac-12. We've already announced an extension with the Alamo Bowl, which follows the New Year's Six placements. We'll see the Pac-12 No. 1 team against the Big 12's No. 1 team. I was pleased to be in Las Vegas with my colleagues from the SEC and the Big Ten and have a chance to announce an arrangement, an elevated bowl arrangement in Las Vegas at the new Las Vegas Stadium that will see the Pac-12's No. 2 and No. 3 play against the top pick from the SEC. ...
"We're in the process of renewing and extending agreements and maybe some new ones along the way, with the exception of the Las Vegas Bowl. We've had a great relationship in Las Vegas, playing against a Mountain West team. Everyone has come together to really elevate that game, so it's going to move up in our lineup, and our second or third team after the College Football Playoff. And, notably, this is the first time we've ever had a bowl tie-in against an SEC team. So I know that will not go unnoticed for many of you in the room.
"I think fans have been clamoring for a long time to see the Pac-12 go head to head in a bowl tie-in with the SEC. So it's no small step that we've finally been able to achieve that, thanks to the help of our friends at the Raiders, ESPN that's involved in the game, MGM, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors, and work with the Big Ten to make that an alternating game.
We're going to announce the full bowl lineup very soon. We just didn't have all the I's dotted and T's crossed with those agreements before Media Day, so there will be more news to follow."
On findings from the recent independent review of Pac-12 officiating:
"[We had] a recently completed independent football officiating review, which was conducted by a firm which specializes in making recommendations about officiating and other programs. The Sibson review was independent and comprehensive in scope, looking at all aspects of the Pac-12 officiating program, and it's part of our continuing effort to continuously review and improve our football officiating. Our work began in February and included benchmarking against the NFL all four of our peer conferences. It benefited from detailed input from all of our coaches, all of our athletics directors, current and former officials and other key stakeholders.
"As you'll see in the report, a summary of the findings, which are being released, Sibson conclude that the Pac-12 officiating program is fundamentally sound and predominantly consistent with industry best practices. At the same time, they identified several very important areas that could be and need to be strengthened further. We're releasing the summary of the findings as we speak and the detailed recommendations that we'll be acting on. And I'd like to highlight four for you right now so as you have a chance to look through it, you'll have a sense of the headlines.
"Going forward, we're changing our organizational structure to a more independent structure for our football officiating, whereby the head of Pac-12 football officiating will have a direct line to myself as the commissioner and not be reporting to our football administrator.
"Secondly, there will be a very detailed manual codifying all the policies and procedures involved in collaborative replay that will also be released in the next several days or weeks made available to the public, as well, of course, to our coaches, administrators, detailing exactly the processes and procedures that will be followed for collaborative replay, which will eliminate the possibility of an incident like we had last year in the Washington State-USC game.
"Thirdly, there will be significant enhancements to training programs for officials and more consistency in grading and training in the officiating and from our supervisors. And there's going to be a shift in our communications protocol when it comes to officiating, with more transparency and public comment around significant calls or errors that either impact player safety or the result of the game.
"We are also going to be monitoring closely what the SEC is doing with their Twitter feed and their other external communications, and we'll see if we want to make further adjustments in the future. But for us this will be an important step forward in terms of how and when we communicate based on the significance of any egregious errors that have an impact on player safety or the outcome of the game."
Continued ...
