[Update] Pac-12 Getting Ready to Announce $3 Billion Deal With ESPN & Fox

Ryan set the table up late last night. In this early morning in West Coast the details are coming. Pac-12 is about to sign a blockbuster TV deal with ESPN and Fox worth more than $2.7B over 12 years. The deal reportedly averages out to more than $225M per year, and includes football, basketball and Olympic sports rights.  Sports Business Daily broke the news early this morning about the deal which will more than triple the conference's current deals with ESPN and Fox.:

As part of its deal, ESPN is picking up football and basketball rights, plus rights to a package of Olympic sports. ESPN has committed to carrying an unknown number of football games in primetime on ABC.

Fox picked up football and basketball rights. It will carry football games on its Fox broadcast channel in primetime and on FX. It will carry basketball games on FSN. ESPN and Fox will rotate coverage of the Pac-10's basketball tournament and football championship game. The conference becomes the Pac-12 on July 1 when Colorado and Utah enter the conference.

To put this in perspective:

SEC schools got average of $18.3M in 2009-10. http://bit.ly/eEYzLM RT @wilnerhotline: Pac-12 deals averages out to $18.75 mill/school.

And the conference hasn't even signed its own network deal yet. It is holding some rights back that it still hopes to use for a conference network. Here is Jon Wilner on that point:

Neither network has plans to partner up on a Pac-12 Network at this point. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a network.

Multiple sources have told me over the weeks and months that commissioner Larry Scott was dead set on doing a network unless he was paid enough money not to — and I’m not sure that $225 million annually over 12 years qualifies as enough to buy Scott out of a network.

(It shouldn’t, given the current market forces.)

Larry Scott has taken a lot of heat here on Bruins Nation. But if the details of the deal check out and UCLA is well taken care of given what the Bruins contribute to the pie through the LA market, he will deserve credit.

Now as Ryan mentioned the focus will shift on Dan Guerrero. What is he going to do with the extra money?

Given the additional cash flow coming UCLA's way the financial viability excuse used in attempts to steal students' sideline seating looks sillier. There will also be no excuses for not being able to make adequate improvements to our facilities and providing resources necessary to field elite major revenue programs.

It appears Larry Scott is being aggressive and bringing conference up to par with modern landscape of college athletics. The question for all UCLA alums, students and fans right now is whether Dan Guerrero and his stale approach to leading Bruins will follow suit?

UPDATE (A): NYTimes notes the deal is reportedly worth $3 billion over 12 years. HT FilmBruin in comment threads.

Don't forget to sign the petition to get students back on the sidelines today and also join Facebook event asking UCLA students to vote NO to STOP Morgan Center from taking away students' court-side seating.