College Football Realignment with William Mao of Octagon

This week on The Wormcast, Octagon's SVP of Media Rights William Mao joins me for episode 64 examining the fallout from the stunning departure of USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 to the Big 10 in 2024. What does it mean for media rights, broadcasters positioning in the college sports? What conferences will survive after the Big 10 and SEC finish adding teams and what will the future of the College Football Playoff look like? Enjoy this beefy show!

Topics discussed: 2:00 How did USC and UCLA get to this point? 5:00 Pac-12 going immediately to market for their next media rights cycle what does it mean? 14:00 Pac-12 football viewership analysis is surprising 19:50 What exactly are grant of rights? 22:50 Notre Dame's options 28:00 College Football Playoff future 36:30 Which media companies will join FOX as the next Big 10 rights holder? 40:10 Kickoff times debated, a key piece of consideration for schools conference choices 45:00 Big 12's positioning 50:00 Length of television and media rights contracts in college sports 52:00 Does the SEC add members to counter the Big 10 move? 54:30 The student-athlete future, will they become university employees? 1:00:00 Tribute to "The Hammer" Hank Goldberg

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm