"They're on the right track. They've got the right cable partners," said Pilson, former president of CBS Sports. "The one issue is fan loyalty in the Pac-12. You know there's fan loyalty in the SEC -- whether it's in Georgia, Alabama, Florida. The question now is to what degree the public in those [West Coast] areas embrace those channels."
It's a valid question. Pac-12 fan bases aren't generally as rabid as their South or Midwest counterparts, as the league's football attendance average was just 52,249 last season, well behind the SEC's figure of 75,832. Meanwhile, the networks will launch at a particularly dismal time for Pac-12 basketball, with the league in danger of placing just one team in next month's NCAA tournament.
On the other hand, Scott says, Pac-12 fans are the most passionate in the country about the so-called Olympic sports -- track and field, swimming, volleyball, etc. -- in which the conference has long excelled. Pac-12 affiliated athletes combined to earn 89 medals at the 2008 Beijing games, more than all but seven participating countries, with its schools producing such national headliners as swimmer Natalie Coughlin (Cal), softball pitcher Jennie Finch (Arizona), soccer goalie Hope Solo (Washington) and volleyball player Kerri Walsh (Stanford).
Beyond just alumni interest, the hope is that dedicated fans of those sports -- generally deprived of televised events in non-Olympic years -- will tune in to see the next wave of stars, including participants in this summer's London games.