Pac-12 Planning Potential Billion Dollar Loan Program If Football Is Canceled

Earlier this week, Pac-12 players banded together and make demands for a season -- many of them reasonable, but also money demands that would not work with Title IX. At the same time, there is some uncertainty over whether there will be a full or partial season, or no season at all due to the pandemic. Under those circumstances, Jon Wilner of the Mercury News reports that the conference is preparing a loan program that could total nearly a billion dollars for schools whose budgets get ravaged by less football revenue.

Wilner reports that the loans would be available for as much as $83 million for each school -- which means a total of $996 million, if all schools exercised them -- at a 3.75 percent interest rate for 10 years. However, Wilner adds: "Multiple sources indicated that not every school would make use of the loan, and some would seek substantially less than the maximum allowable. If the Pac-12 plays a full football season, the plan could be pushed aside entirely."

Football drives a majority of the revenue for all of the schools in the conference, with tens of millions of dollars each year from attendance and television. If schools were to face the shortfall all at once, their budgeting decisions would require a bloodbath for other sports. A 10-year loan would ease how dramatic that bloodshed would be, but in all likelihood not eliminate the need for cuts. Even if a full season is played this year, there will be losses from ticket sales. You can go on down the line with what happens with TV if any games are missed, and then what happens if all of them are.