Hold up. The Pac-12 did what? Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reports that the Pac-12 was offered a significant deal by ESPN, but they rejected it:

ESPN had offered a significant package to the conference more than a year ago — one that the conference’s university presidents rejected. ESPN ended up cutting a deal with the Big 12, and while it remained involved with the Pac-12, it only put in a small bid for Pac-12 rights within the past few weeks.

CBS also engaged with the Pac-12 over the past couple of weeks, but it only put forward a bid for a handful of basketball games — around five in total. Sources had expected ESPN and Amazon to share the Pac-12’s “A” package. But as it turned out, Amazon never submitted a bid. Neither did NBC.

The delay from last year, when ESPN, Fox and CBS were willing to do a deal, to last week, when all three put forth small bids, was devastating to the Pac-12. A changing media landscape — with shrinking subscriber numbers and employee layoffs — caused the networks to be much more disciplined in where to spend their money than they have in the past.

Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellinger reports that the ACC, Mountain West, and whatever is left of the Pac-12 and set to try something, while athletic directors bemoan that they can’t believe what has happened. What’s happened is capitalism and that’s sort of what it’s always been about.

Just a penny more. And every AD is doing the absolute best to make as much money for their institution as they possibly can.

And I’ve thought a lot about this and I no longer worry about any of this. All of this seems pre-determined to a certain extent and the idea of ensuring that your program is at a certain level seems irrelevant right now. Once conferences start cutting teams, like Vanderbilt or Rutgers, then we really know that behind the scenes the networks are pulling strings (as if there is any doubt now). It seems like there’s some sort of collusion lawsuit just waiting to happen, but I’m not smart enough to figure that out.

Big 12 has “no appetite” to add any of Pac-4 schools or San Diego State, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. “We have no interest in doing anything,” source said. “We’re done.”

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 7, 2023

Yes.

Wes Kittley is to be inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as part of the 2023 class. Congrats!

Texas Tech is ranked No. 24 in the first preseason coaches’ poll. If you would like to see the full poll then USA Today is the place to go. As an aside, Texas Tech is one spot ahead of TAMU, Texas is No. 12, TCU 16, Kansas State 17, and Oklahoma 19.

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams on the coaching and rehab staff attempting to mitigate the issues that Mason Tharp, who is 6’9″ and 270, has had with concussions, including wearing a Q-Collar and a special mouthpiece:

BrainVault’s website describes its product as “a revolutionary and patented mouthguard that has been proven to help reduce the risk of concussion.” One of the key features, the company says, is that it “optimally aligns the lower jaw in a position that strengthens neck muscles to minimize concussive forces.”

Would you like to read the 2023 Texas Tech football media guide?