Anyone who isn’t a delusional BYU/Big12 honk has said for months the media deals between the Pac12 and Big12 would be very similar. The only difference is that the Pac12 will lean a little more on streaming for Tier 1 games. My guess is the biggest matchups (ranked vs ranked) will be split between linear (ESPN, CBS, etc.) and Amazon Prime. I don’t see how this is a bad thing. Amazon Prime isn’t ESPN+. It’s distribution and availability is massive and it’s only going to get bigger as they keep pushing into live sports.
Some like to point out Pac12 streaming games would not receive much viewership because “casual viewers just channel surf until they find a game to watch”. This is so hilarious to me. Very few people, outside of 70+ year old technologically impaired boomers, watch CFB this way anymore. The vast majority of people look at the schedule, decide which game(s) to watch, and then go to that channel or app.
“But, it takes so long to switch between apps!!!”. This one is also hilarious to me. I can literally switch between apps on my $30 Roku in less than 10 seconds. This isn’t 2007 anymore.
The Pac12 had terrible exposure with the Pac12 Network. Transitioning to Amazon Prime is a massive increase in distribution for many games. There were FAR too many great games on the P12N (even ranked teams!) over the years to have such poor distribution. Glad it’s going to change.