The Pacific-10 has reached a deal to license most of its big football and basketball games to Fox and ESPN, and agreement that will net the conference approximately $3 billion over 12 years, the New York Times reports.
The deal spring's from the Pac-10's decision to start its own cable network, which will launch in 2012.
Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott told the Times that the Pac-10's assets had been traditionally undervalued.
"I'm not surprised at where we landed," Scott said of the $3 billion deal.
The Pac-10's move to launch its own network mimics the Big Ten Conference's 2007 decision to launch its own network — a decision that led to a 10-year, $1 billion deal with ESPN.
However, unlike the Big Ten, Pac-10 will retain complete ownership of its network. (The Big Ten's network, by contrast, is 49-percent owned by Fox Cable Networks.)
Beginning on July 1, the Pac-10 will be expanding the number of teams in the conference as well as its wallet, with Colorado and Utah coming on board to make the conference the Pac-12.
