Canzano: Pac-12 enters media-rights world with Octagon

CORVALLIS, OREGON - SEPTEMBER 14: A view of the PAC-12 field logo before the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers at Reser Stadium on September 14, 2024 in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photo by Soobum Im/Getty Images)

William Mao is a Yale graduate. He got his MBA at London Business School and was an intern at IMG. A couple of jobs later, Mao went to work for YouTube, where he rose to become head of the company’s college sports business.

He was 29 at the time.

Does Mao put his pants on one leg at a time? Can he solve a Rubik’s cube in less than a minute? Who knows? But I’m bringing him up for a good reason today.

It was in the summer of 2014 that I first heard Mao’s name. Forbes put him on a “30-under-30” list. The Pac-12 Network had just partnered with YouTube. Mao was a key player in the launch. He eventually went to work for Octagon — which has a client list that includes the NFL, MLB, ACC, WCC, and Big Ten, among others. Mao is Octagon’s senior vice president in charge of media rights consulting.

The Pac-12 has hired Octagon to assist in the sale of its media rights, sources tell me.

Mao is on the job.

So is Daniel Cohen, an executive vice president at Octagon. Cohen launched the media rights consulting business at the firm and hired Mao, who was working in the digital rights world. I probably should have mentioned Cohen first. He’s the big boss and an attorney who is in this negotiation, too. He’s on a Forbes “40-under-40” list and previously worked at Bloomberg Sports and for the Washington Nationals.

The consulting world is an incestuous swirl of relationships. The high seas of college athletics and media rights are choppy waters. There were lots of potential hires by the Pac-12, but going with a firm with some proof of buoyancy is a wise thing for a conference that doesn’t want to repeat the sins of its last media rights debacle.

So, Octagon it is.

I’m not blaming Doug Perlman and Sports Media Advisors for the downfall of the Pac-12. That’s a reach. Perlman’s company didn’t tell the conference presidents and chancellors to reject ESPN’s $30 million per school offer in October of 2022 and counter at $50 million per school.

That strategy was the brainchild of Utah President Taylor Randall, who wasn’t alone in his delusion, to be fair. The president at Stanford wanted a much bigger deal, too. Those two presidents, along with a couple of other Pac-12 campus leaders, viewed ESPN’s offer as a lowball. The rest went along with it.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff should have managed the room better. The Pac-12 presidents responded to ESPN like a pack of college kids on spring break in Vegas playing their first hand of poker.

The Pac-12 countered at $50 million.

ESPN’s response: “Goodbye.”

A few important thoughts… and what happens next: