Canzano: Will the Pac-12 take a private investment plunge?
"Nobody wants to be first."
The Pac-12 Conference has kicked the tires on the private investment front like everyone else. I’ve wondered if the 109-year-old conference might be the first to take the plunge and use outside investment to fuel its ongoing rebuild.
As one Pac-12 campus source offered on Friday: “It’s fair we’re exploring all possibilities for the league, to build the league as best as possible going forward.”
It underscores what Commissioner Tim Pernetti of the American Athletic Conference said a day earlier. Pernetti predicted that someone in college athletics would take private capital investment and open the floodgates.
“Nobody wants to be first,” Pernetti said. “But the minute somebody goes first, everybody is hauling ass for the finish line.
“Everybody wants to be in the club.”
The new world Pac-12 is working on securing a media rights contract. It’s sorting through options and focused on adding an eighth football member. Who will the Pac-12 grab? When will it get done? After that, maybe a basketball addition? In the background, there’s a looming question about outside investment and the role it could play.