THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The view could be coming clear for Pac-12 in near future

The fate of the Pac-12 is coming into view.

Except …

It might be the Pac-10.

Temporarily.

The good news for existing members — leftovers from the UCLA-USC jailbreak — is that we might finally be getting news on conference media rights.

Needless to say, everything hinges on the money each school will receive when the deal is signed and sealed.

Sources around the conference are beginning to leak the information that the Big Day is coming soon — and furthermore, that the annual payout is likely to be around $31 million per university.

After all the hoo-hah about the Big 12 poaching schools from this part of the country pretty much at will, it’s ironic that the finances destined for the two conferences look as though they’ll be pretty much the same.

So …

Why are we thinking the media rights will be announced soon?

Like, next week, even.

Well, the Pac-12 Football Media Day is set for July 21 in Las Vegas, and the conference would REALLY rather hear questions tossed around about quarterbacks and defenses, rather than …

When in the heck will we know about those TV deals?

IF WE stay optimistic and assume there actually will be a respectable rights package in hand very soon, what about expansion?

Southern Methodist is waiting, with those 3.9 million TV households in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

Those millions matter, to the point that you can picture Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff with his tongue hanging out.

After all, the conference will be losing 5.7 million television homes throughout the monstrous Los Angeles area in 2024 — you know, when UCLA and USC depart for their traditional, must-see Big 10 games against Rutgers, Maryland, etc.

Speaking of SMU, the school’s boosters have plenty of money on hand for the jump into tougher competition than the American Athletic Conference.

Longtime Portland scribe John Canzano, who now writes his own paywall column called “The Bald-Faced Truth,” did some digging into the amount of cash sloshing around SMU athletics, and suggests that its new Pac-12 partners best be prepared.

Canzano spoke with some folks involved with The Boulevard Collective, which raises money for Mustang athletes, and discovered that the organization would become the second-wealthiest in the Pac-12 — behind only Division Street at Oregon.

“Oregon’s collective has billionaire Phil Knight backing it, among others,” Canzano wrote. “Last year, I was told by one donor that the initial buy-in for Division Street, Inc. was $500,000, and that didn’t even get you a say in who the collective did business with.”

Yikes.

Meanwhile, what about San Diego State, which has seemed like an automatic choice as the conference’s 12th school almost since California achieved statehood?

Umm …

The Aztecs have been making a hash of things (although they’ll probably wind up in the Pac-12 despite tromping on their own toes).

San Diego State faced a June 30 deadline to notify the Mountain West that it was leaving — and the date really mattered, since the departure fee was $17 million in June and $34 million after that.

Unfortunately, the Aztecs’ letter to the MVC was a bit wishy-washy — no doubt because the Pac-12 had not issued the school an invitation at that point.

San Diego State probably meant to do some negotiating, but Mountain West commissioner Gloria Nevarez had none of it — so she and the 11 other school presidents took the letter as an official good-bye note.

NEEDLESS to say, the result has been a bona fide mess.

The Mountain West considers the Aztecs officially gone, and even withheld a $6.6 million payout — calling it a down payment on that $17 million.

At this moment, then, San Diego State doesn’t belong to ANY conference.

Some begging will be coming soon, and in fact, the Pac-12 may hand out a pretty stiff surcharge.

Bear in mind, the College Football Playoff expansion is coming after the 2024 season, bringing with it a handsome financial windfall.

Now, if you’re the Pac-12 (and just got dinged for $50 million in a media rights overpayment), would you want to split that first year of CFP cash 12 ways?

Or maybe just 10?

San Diego State’s blundering handed the conference a great excuse to offer membership in 2025, rather than a year sooner.

Sure, SMU could get caught up in the wash, but right now, the Pac-12 needs to take care of its own members — even its own survival.

For what it’s worth, there would be a slightly humorous side to the conference sticking with 10 members for a year.

You’d have the Pac-12 with 10, the Big 12 with 14 and the Big Ten with …

Sheesh, how many schools ARE in the Big Ten now?

Considerably more than 10, guaranteed.

In our part of the world, however, what matters most is that the Pac-12 announces a nice, fat media rights deal.

Soon.

As in …

Very soon.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”