The Pac-12 Was So Desperate To Be Liked It Allegedly Paid The LA Times 'Six Figures In Advertising Money' In Order For More Coverage

[Source] - "That plan further instructed the conference to “expand upon media partnerships” with two primary media platforms — the Los Angeles Times and The Players’ Tribune. According to emails and other documents, the conference struck a deal in 2018 with the Los Angeles Times that aimed to steer $100,000 in advertising to the newspaper in exchange for an expansion in conference coverage ...

After the agreement was signed, Andrew Walker, a Pac-12 vice president in charge of communications, offered to pave the way for the newly hired reporter, a former Times intern named Blake Richardson. In October 2018, Walker promised Richardson via an email obtained from the conference, 'I can make sure you have all the access and info to become the best Pac-12 reporter out there ... 'I will connect you via email with each of our 12 university (sports information directors) so that you can develop a working relationship with each of them, and get their story ideas.'" 

Said the Pac-12 staff member: “Literally, in a meeting, our communications people were like, ‘Is there anyone we can pay to write positive stories?’”

The Oregonian/OregonLive has obtained internal communications from both the Pac-12 and Los Angeles Times that reveal new details of the partnership. The Pac-12, which long denied there was a formalized agreement, for the first time now acknowledges it signed a contract to provide advertising revenue to The Times.

In an effort to piss off Brandon Walker - yikes. But really this is the funniest damn thing because the Pac-12 is such a shit show. Larry Scott makes Rob Manfred almost look like a slightly below average commissioner - ALMOST. This idea stemmed after the Pac-12 sent 3 teams to the NCAA Tournament and didn't win a game, as well as going like 1-8 in bowl games. They were always the butt of the joke and now that they are dropping six figures for more positive stories? That's just hilarious.

What makes it even better is looking at some of Larry Scott's other great ideas: 

The dude can't get out of his own way and it just keeps getting funnier each time. I love the person in the quote too. Yeah, man, I don't fucking know, we just need some positive stories because all of our teams sucked ass this year. Seems like that's the main problem! Maybe don't have USC football be average. Get Oregon football back to the Marcus Mariota days. Get Sean Miller back in the Elite Eight three years in a row. Have UCLA be relevant in basketball. All that seems like it'll help the image of the conference! 

Now the main problem here is you're paying a major news outlet for the spin on stories. That limits access for all other papers and all that jazz. It's important in the big J world. But of course it was the Pac-12. There's no doubt it would be this conference. Larry Scott man, he just won't stop being unintentionally hilarious with awful decisions.