Pac-12 Media Deal. What does it mean for NCAA Hockey in California?

Probably Nothing. But let's speculate anyway.

As of right now, each school in the Pac-10 gets approximately 4.16-6.25 million dollars through the conference's television deal and as of right now, Cal and UCLA's academics and athletics are hurting thanks to the economy and the state's budget crisis. The budget shortfall at Cal is so bad that the university almost cut five intercollegiate sports (including baseball!) to try and trim 4 million dollars off of the books. I can only speak with authority when it concerns Cal, but I believe it is reasonable to assume that UCLA is going through similar budget problems even if they are unwilling to cut programs (yet). 

This is where Larry Scott (the Pac-10/12 commissioner) jumps in with a record setting 3 billion dollar television deal with ESPN and Fox that will pay out 18.75-20.83 million dollars a year to each school in the conference. That is a HUGE 12.5-16.67 million dollar increase in revenue for each school's athletic department. In the fall, when UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgenau announced the elimination of the 5 sports, he noted that the athletic department was running a deficit of 13 million dollars (that was being subsidized by the university) and needed to trim at least 4 million dollars off of the books. Each one of those programs have been saved by individual fundraising efforts so the university is still saving some money even though all 5 have been reinstated. Therefore, the university has saved money by threatening to cut five sports and is getting a 12.5-16.67 million dollar pay increase from ESPN and Fox. That sure seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.

With all the extra money that is flowing into the coffers at California, UCLA, Stanfurd, and USC, should they consider adding more sports? Yes, yes, yes!! Should two of those sports (or the only two) added be men's and women's hockey? Yes, again. It is my belief that in order for college hockey to thrive in this state, each school needs its rival to come along too (I had a good debate on this exact issue with Arthur a few months ago). As much as Cal and UCLA students don't want to admit it, they rely on Stanfurd and USC respectively and vice versa to increase interest in every sport from the big revenue ones like football and basketball to relatively unknown intercollegiate sports. It may be a hard first few years, but I can guarantee that students would flock to hockey games (at least up here in Berkeley) against Stanfurd and SoCal rivals USC and UCLA and with decent marketing people will start to go to games against eastern schools as well. With the extra money coming in, this may be the perfect time for the California NHL teams to act and nudge the four major division I schools in the state towards establishing div. I hockey programs which would be an incredible step toward establishing hockey as a dominant sport in this state for years to come.

Is all of the above likely? Probably not. Is it nice to think about? Yep.