The Pac-12 Had To Deny A Report It's Negotiating With ION Television Because Literally Nobody Wants To Broadcast Its Games

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In the wake of the SEC and Big Ten cashing in huge paydays for their most recent media rights deals, it's time for the Pac-12 to hopefully strike it rich with a new media partner. Just one problem: nobody wants to put the league's games on television.

On Friday, a report emerged that the Pac-12 was negotiating with some channel called ION. That's right, folks, you could possibly soon catch Arizona State-Oregon State followed by a six-hour Hawaii Five-O marathon all in one place.

Brett McMurphy's report wasn't out for very long before Stewart Mandel refuted it, but the initial scoop had to come from somewhere. If I were to make a purely speculative guess, I would say someone from the Pac-12 office saw the predictable response a Power Five conference potentially putting its games on ION received once it was leaked and scrambled to tell a different reporter there is no truth to that whatsoever. The damage was already done, though.

The other reported leader for the Pac-12 is Apple TV and is that any better? I checked and I apparently have ION on YouTube TV, so it seems you'd be better off hoping some people stumble across your games flipping channels than putting them on a streaming service.

Whoever ends up being the lucky bidder for Pac-12 football and basketball, though, it doesn't seem like they'll have to pay too much.