that's a total crock-of-shit. It's a whiny, woe is us we-did-nothing-wrong-beavers-were-innocent-victims-of-the-evil-ducks-none-of-it-is-our-fault holier than thou nonsense
I don't have the connections I used to have, but I do have a couple and I'll repeat some things that I have been told, most of which is easy to confirm. :
* the first big mistake that Pac-12 made was hiring Larry Scott and allowing him to have the conference form an independent Pac-12 network. Rob Mullens and Phil Knight were against it and Oregon wanted the PAC to form a broadcast/streaming partnership like the Big-10 has with FOX and the SEC has with. But most schools were enthusiastic about the crap Scott was selling and that includes OSU and WSU whose presidents were two of the biggest Scott cheerleaders along with ASU's president. If ESPN, for instance, had a big investment in the Pac-12 network and were a primary partner, they would have been much less likely to abandon the PAC when the next round of media GOR was being negotiated. That decision went a long way in killing the PAC and it was OSU on the stupid side of it
* in 2021, when Texas/Oklahoma announced they were leaving the Big-12 for the SEC, the Big-12 was a shipwreck. In the next month or so, several of the premier Big-12 schools called the PAC and negotiated with Kliavkoff about joining the Pac-12. Kliavkoff called for a meeting of Pac-12 presidents to vote on the issue of expansion with selected Big-12 teams. Oregon was in favor of expansion and argued for it. USC led the charge AGAINST expansion and OSU/WSU both voted with USC (IIRC the vote was 8-4 against). If the Pac-12 had done the expansion, there would have been nowhere else for ESPN and Fox to have gone for their media deals. This was another nail in the coffin for the Pac-12 and again, OSU was on the stupid side
* a few months after that, Kliavkoff was deep into negotiations with ESPN, FOX, and Amazon about a new media GOR. By all reports, the media companies were prepared to sign a deal that would have paid Pac-12 teams slightly more than what the Big-12 signed for in the vacuum of Pac-12 hubris. Again, Oregon was in favor of accepting the deal. And again, the majority said no, and that majority included OSU & WSU
* finally, as has been widely reported, the deal(s) Kliavkoff told the Pac-12 presidents, last Wednesday, he had lined up was a base streaming package with 23M/year per school in payout with subscription escalators; and that he had several different media interested in a linear TV package that would add 2-6M/year more. But when he presented the actual deal Friday morning, not only didn't it have any linear TV component; and not only did it have unreachable subscription thresholds, it included a clause from Apple that said the conference was responsible for all production costs which was estimated to deduct at least 5M/year from each school's payout. Meaning the actual deal was for 16-18M/year....all on a streaming platform
it was a classic bait & switch and that's when Oregon/Washington finally said enough
If you're going to single out any school for destroying the Pac-12, it was USC. As I linked above, when Kliavkoff came to the presidents advocating the Pac-12 expand with 4-6 Big-12 teams, it was USC's president who was most responsible for scuttling the deal. And just a few months later, USC bolted to the BIG. It would be incredibly naive to think this wasn't a strategy to neuter the PAC-12 and especially neuter Oregon in their ability to recruit southern California
and if you're wanting to point a finger at one of the Oregon schools, point it at OSU for it's constant 'we-believe-in-Larry-Scott's-pie-in-the-sky' wishful thinking
when this all started, I was feeling bad for OSU; hoping they might find a soft landing somewhere. But as Beaver fans, and even OSU officials, have tried to blame Oregon for this situation; as the beaver bile and venom has been spewed at the Ducks; as they try and act like innocent blameless victims in all this, I find I don't give a shit about the Beavers any more. Maybe they will somehow climb into the Big-12 on a reduced share; doubtful but possible I suppose. If not, enjoy the MWC
