Canzano: Unpacking the Pac-12's silent stance

Expansion? Legal strategy? What else?

Why is the Pac-12 treating its media-rights distributions with top-secret handling? Why not boast about the financials like every other league? Why not put that out there? What’s with the selective avoidance?

I raised those questions in a 1-on-1 interview with Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould on Friday. Gould took a curious stance and said it would be “incredibly inappropriate” to release the numbers involved in the agreements with the league’s new TV partners. She called the deals “complex.”

There are a limited number of reasons why the Pac-12 wouldn’t want the figures released publicly. Some tentacles include possible expansion, lawsuits, campus strategy, and public perception.

I took a deep dive into the topic.

Here’s what I know: