SEATTLE — Ana Mari Cauce was feeling, if not quite sorry, at least anguished. Conciliatory.
It was Aug. 8, four days after the University of Washington president's momentous decision to move to the Big Ten Conference had killed the 108-year-old Pac-12.
So Cauce sat down and wrote a breakup letter. She sent it to her soon to be former colleagues — the presidents of the Pac-12 schools she'd left behind.
The subject line: "Tough, tough days." The tone: Guilty but resolute.
"The last few days have been very difficult, even heart wrenching," she wrote. The schools had tried "valiantly and authentically" to save the conference.
"I did my best to be direct and candid and was clear that I would entertain better possibilities," she wrote. "But, in the end, the decision to leave was not about my personal preference."
This account of the Pac-12's demise — a behind-the-scenes look at how the frenetic quest for TV dollars undid a century-old partnership — is drawn from hundreds of previously unreported emails and text messages, obtained from UW and the University of Oregon through public records requests.
The responses to the breakup letter came rolling in. The presidents of Oregon, Arizona and Arizona State, all of whom had secured new conferences, were somber but supportive.
The two schools most jilted by UW and Oregon's decisions were their in-state rivals, Washington State and Oregon State. UW and Oregon's decision will likely cost WSU and OSU tens of millions of dollars.
WSU President Kirk Schulz went for gallows humor.
"Remaining institutions are fighting for our athletic lives right now. Our financial modeling of a 40% budget reduction in athletics is tough and will certainly be career ending for much of our current leadership," he wrote in response. "If I deliver a pizza to your door on my next job — please give me a nice tip!!"
OSU President Jayathi Murthy was not in the mood, not ready to crack jokes on the havoc that the billion-dollar business of college football was about to wreak on her students, her school, her community.
"As with WSU, the consequences for OSU, for our athletics program and for the city of Corvallis are devastating," she wrote. "If our current system of priorities cannot take this devastation into account, we have truly lost the thread."
Cauce had known her move would kill the Pac-12. Just hours after it became public that UW and Oregon were leaving, she wrote privately to the UW Board of Regents saying she was committed to honoring the legacy of the Pac-12 "in what is likely its final year." Cauce declined an interview request for this story but responded to emailed questions.
The Pac-12 — the conference of Jackie Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cheryl Miller, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Steve Prefontaine, John Elway and Tiger Woods — fell apart slowly, haltingly, haphazardly over the course of years. And then it fell apart completely over the course of a night.
It fell apart, as Hemingway wrote, "Two ways, gradually and then suddenly."
The breakup was set in motion more than a year ago, when USC and UCLA announced their departure, yet it was still in doubt at midnight the night before UW and Oregon struck the death blow.
The decision was driven almost exclusively by football and the hundreds of millions of TV dollars it commands, yet it will have vast impacts on unpaid, unheralded athletes in dozens of other sports. Instead of competing in Pullman, Corvallis and Berkeley, UW's gymnasts, runners and tennis players will take cross-country flights to College Park, Md.; State College, Pa., and Piscataway, N.J.
"All this is about money, you know that," University of Colorado football coach Deion Sanders told reporters the day the Pac-12 imploded. "It's about a bag, everybody's chasing a bag."
"Now we're at the table able to have some influence on future," Cauce wrote to David Zeeck, chair of UW's Board of Regents, nine days after her decision. "The PAC-12 of last month was in a reactive, not proactive situation. It's interesting when people say 'it's all about money' as an insult, at the same time as schools, universities, hospitals, etc are dealing with strikes or threats of strike for higher pay. Truth is, it's not ONLY about money."
Dual obligations
The Pac-12 crumbled because the tentative deal the conference negotiated to televise its college football games, in the eyes of UW and Oregon, didn't give the universities enough money and put the games on a streaming network, instead of regular TV.
USC and UCLA announced in June 2022 they would leave for the Big Ten when the Pac-12's current TV deal expires in 2024. The move put a big dent in the finances of those left behind. A report from the University of California regents estimated USC alone represented nearly one-third of the Pac-12's value to broadcasters.
Pac-12 leaders — university presidents and commissioner George Kliavkoff — spent the summer of 2022 casting about for solutions.
They met with the leaders of the Big 12 and the Atlantic Coast Conference, to see if there was a partnership or merger to be found.
"We are open to discussing a strategic relationship with the Big12 that could help both Conferences and we have no preconceived notions about what would be possible or not," Kliavkoff wrote in July 2022, ahead of a day of meetings with Big 12 officials. "We are also talking to the ACC and the ACC Commissioner knows that we are talking to the Big12."
They looked to add schools to replace the two Southern California powerhouses.
"We need to think about (as a possibility) on whether there are schools that might fit our profile culturally, geographically and academically — but may not necessarily be at the level athletically (i.e., non-power 5) presently — but have the potential and donor support to get there," WSU's Schulz wrote that same month. Schulz noted he was aware his email was a public record "so I will be a bit non-specific."
He blamed Fox for steering USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and said "letting one of the networks tell us who we should seek as expansion candidates is pretty uncomfortable to me."
In August 2022, bolstered by its two new Los Angeles members, the Big Ten signed a new seven-year media deal with Fox, CBS and NBC that will bring the conference more than $1 billion a year.
"The expected valuation being reported for the Big Ten is positive news for the Pac-12 and the value of our own rights," Kliavkoff wrote to his university presidents the day the Big Ten deal was announced.
Last fall, ESPN offered the Pac-12 a new contract in the range of $30 million per school, annually, according to media reports — about the same as the Big 12 got, only about half what the Big Ten got — but the university presidents held out for more.
Then the 2022 football season came and went. So did the basketball season. The summer of 2023 rolled around, and the Pac-12 still had not secured a TV deal.
The longer the conference went without a deal, the antsier each school got, not wanting to break up the conference but wanting even less to be the school left out, the school without, in Sanders' phrasing, a bag.
Cauce, as chair of the Pac-12's board for the 2022 academic year, helped lead the search for a deal. But she was, of course, wearing two hats: leader of the Pac-12 and leader of UW.
"I was always 100 percent clear about the fact that I had these dual obligations and pledged that I would be very transparent if or when there were any conflicts between these roles," Cauce said this month.
On July 6 of this year, James Buder, an assistant Washington attorney general who represents UW, emailed Cauce about the conference situation. The subject line: "Contingency Planning." UW redacted the entirety of the email, citing attorney-client privilege.
Later that month, the conference held its football media day in Las Vegas. There was still no deal, and Kliavkoff desperately wanted to keep the focus on football, not the conference's tenuous finances.
"It is essential that we are aligned and speak positively and confidently with one voice on Football Media Day," Kliavkoff wrote to the university presidents and athletic directors.
And yet, Colorado athletic director Rick George chose not to speak at all. When approached by reporters, George bellowed, "I've got a flight to catch!" before disappearing down a hallway.
Less than a week later, word leaked that Colorado was chasing the bag, leaving for the Big 12.
Just before 8 a.m. on July 27, Kliavkoff texted Cauce, forwarding a message from Colorado Chancellor Philip DiStefano.
"George, Our Board will vote this afternoon at 3:00 to join the Big 12 Conference. It was not an easy decision and I realize its impact on the other members. If there is a time you are available today, I am happy to call you. Phil"
Cauce responded immediately: "Ugh!" Then: "I find post breakup I'm sorry calls worse than the break up."
Kliavkoff: "He broke up by txt. Didn't even call"
Cauce: "The kids have a term for that but I'm too old to remember!"
But, it seemed, the Pac-12 had a ready replacement for Colorado.
Later that day, Cauce was texting with then-Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, who told her he was on a plane and couldn't talk, but could still text.
Stanford's athletic director, he wrote, "gave my vote for San Diego State."
The vote, which likely would have led to adding San Diego State once a new media deal was reached, was essentially unanimous, Cauce told him, with just Cal's chancellor absent.
'It's not close. This is bad'
The Pac-12's near salvation and its ultimate undoing came amid a flurry of meetings, emails and text messages in the first few days of August.
Kliavkoff was negotiating a media deal with Apple that would bring the conference's games to the tech behemoth's streaming service. On the one hand, there could be undeniable benefits to being in business with the world's largest company. On the other, was it too soon, too big a change, to take the conference's games entirely off regular television?
Kliavkoff would present Apple's proposal to the university presidents Aug. 1.
The day before, Cauce texted him.
Cauce: "Sending good vibes your way!"
Kliavkoff: "Thank you. Wish there was anything I could do to influence the outcome"
Cauce: "In my native country, we light a candle! Can't hurt!"
But the next morning, when Kliavkoff presents the offer, it seems no one is pleased.
Cauce and then-UW athletic director Jen Cohen begin texting before the virtual meeting even ends.
Cohen: "this isn't going to work"
Cauce: "It's not what we wanted for sure."
Cohen: "he went backwards on benefits of this since friday"
Cauce: "We need to weigh against other options. But yes not what we wanted"
Cohen: "its not close. this is bad !"
(Media reports later put Apple's offer at $23 million per school, per year, with more money tied to subscription incentives.)
Cauce shares her thoughts with Utah President Taylor Randall.
Cauce: "I'm not happy"
Randall: "Tough to analyze, but does have upside."
Cauce: "Agreed. My fear is short term."
(Cauce said this month that an offer from Apple of at least $30 million, with one or two games a week on regular TV, "would have been more seriously considered.")
But there still seems to be hope. Later that morning, Kliavkoff texts Cauce.
Kliavkoff: "We have to get this over the finish line"
Cauce: "Yes!!!!"
The next day, Aug. 2, WSU's Schulz, who needs the Pac-12 to stay together as much as anyone, texts Cauce.
Schulz: "Thanks for your leadership this week — it is making a significant difference"
Cauce: "There might be xtra meaning to our rivalry game"
On Aug. 3, the activity starts early.
At 12:59 a.m., Pac-12 Vice President Erik Hardenbergh emails the presidents the terms of the Apple agreement, financial modeling of the deal and a comparison to the Big 12's deal. All the documents are sent as links on private Pac-12 sites, not as attachments, shielding them from public disclosure.
At 5:37 a.m. Stanford's Tessier-Lavigne asks Cauce to call him, saying he has a few thoughts.
But here is where Cauce's dual imperatives — try to keep the Pac-12 together, but find the best deal for UW — become clear.
Cauce spends the day simultaneously reassuring her Pac-12 colleagues, fielding pitches from Apple, coordinating with Oregon and reaching out to the Big Ten.
At 7 a.m. she texts Oregon President John Karl Scholz to say they should talk.
At 7:12 a.m. she texts Santa Ono, president of the University of Michigan, perhaps the marquee school of the Big Ten. Ono responds "it is important" for them to talk and the chair of the Big Ten's Council of Presidents will be reaching out.
Ninety minutes later, Cauce tries to call Oregon's Scholz; he is in a meeting with his board of trustees.
At 9:06 a.m., Kliavkoff tells Cauce that Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of services, wants to talk with her about "linear," that is regular TV, as opposed to streaming.
Cauce calls the University of Utah to shoot down a rumor that UW and Oregon have a $40 million offer from the Big Ten. She texts Arizona State President Michael Crow, telling him "don't believe all you read."
At 2:51 p.m., Kliavkoff emails all the presidents, saying Cue wants to share some news.
Cauce responds to the group: "All ears!!!"
Shortly before 5 p.m. Cauce tries to call Robert Jones, the Big Ten chair. Jones is busy; Cauce says she'll call back in an hour.
There's a 5 p.m. Pac-12 conference call. On the agenda: voting on San Diego State.
At 5:39 p.m., WSU's Schulz texts Cauce: "Thanks for your openness and professionalism. Good luck with your deliberations and meeting with your board tonight. I appreciate you!"
Cauce: "Thx. Appreciate you too!"
At 7:47 p.m., Oregon's Scholz texts Cauce a link to an ESPN article saying Arizona is in "deep discussions" to join the Big 12. Cauce says they should stay in touch.
At 9 p.m., Cauce attends a special meeting of the UW Board of Regents. They meet publicly for about one minute before going into a private session. Ninety minutes later, they adjourn.
Meanwhile, at 9:59 p.m., Cue forwards all the Pac-12 presidents an announcement highlighting that Apple now has 1 billion paid subscribers around the world.
"I run all of Services at Apple and I thought our last quarter results just announced shows what we can do," Cue writes. "I really appreciate the time we have had and the more I go through the opportunities the more confident I am that together we will offer the best college football product in the world!"
Perhaps, maybe, at this late hour, the Pac-12 can be saved.
Presidents respond to the group: Utah's Randall: "Congratulations. Hope we can build a lasting partnership together." WSU's Schulz: "We look forward to building a world-class partnership!"
But Cauce appears unswayed. She texts with Cohen at 10:33 p.m., right at the conclusion of the Board of Regents meeting.
Cohen: "great job!"
Cauce: "You too!! We're in this together"
Cohen: "we got this"
Cauce: "Let's touch base around 6:30-6:45am"
Cauce: "Try to sleep. I will too"
Five minutes later, she texts Oregon's Scholz: "Feel free to call me after 6am if you'd like. About to go to bed. Nothing new but will keep phone on"
Scholz (at 2:10 a.m.): "Thank you. I'll call shortly after 6 after huddling with my AD."
At 2:23 a.m., Hardenbergh, the Pac-12 vice president, emails the college presidents the agreement with Apple for each school to sign.
But as dawn breaks, it's all done.
("The final decision was made very early the morning of the 4th," Cauce said this month.)
At 7 a.m. Cauce tries to call WSU's Schulz. Twenty minutes later she tells Utah's Randall she can talk if he'd like. She misses a call from Stanford's Tessier-Lavigne and tries to call him back.
At 8:35 a.m. she texts WSU's Schulz.
Cauce: "I'm here to talk if you'd like"
Schulz: "Thanks. Give me a couple of days. We are fighting to remain a power 5 school right now. Apple deal is off."
Cauce: "I get it."
"The Apple Cup will remain!"
"I know this will sound shallow but if there's anyway we can help."
The news goes public shortly after. The Seattle Times story posts at 9:45 a.m.: "Washington and Oregon to join Big Ten Conference in 2024."
Cauce misses a call from Kliavkoff. And then, at 10:29, a text exchange practically dripping with subtext, sadness, betrayal.
Kliavkoff: "Please call me"
Kliavkoff: "Thanks"
Cauce: "May take a while, but we'll be in contact"
Kliavkoff: "Ok. Thanks"
Kliavkoff: "Are you joining board call"
Cauce: "I'm sorry George, I won't be attending this meeting. Will be following up soon."
(WSU, in court documents, writes that UW and Oregon's announcement came "minutes before a new groundbreaking media rights deal with Apple was to be finalized.")
The dominoes fall quickly. News that Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are joining the Big 12 breaks within hours.
"It happened within hours of us," Cauce texts Oregon's Scholz.
"Happy for the three," Scholz responds. "And they had obviously done leg work."
Cauce: "We'll talk more sometime. Let's take a breather (if we can) soon. It's going to be hard to scowl at you at our big rivalry day :-)"
There is a flurry of news releases and documents. UW officially applies to the Big Ten, with a two-paragraph letter. UW officially breaks up with the Pac-12 with a one-paragraph letter.
The Big Ten unanimously approves UW's and Oregon's applications. The Big 12 unanimously approves Arizona, Arizona State and Utah a few hours later.
"If you'd like I can talk now," Cauce texts Kliavkoff again at 4 p.m. "Or you might rather when things settle a bit." She gets no response.
At 10 p.m., Apple's Cue emails her: "I really appreciated your support for us. It is a sad day and I am truly sorry we couldn't get this done. I do wish you well in the Big-10. And yes you do owe me a Cuban dinner!"
Late that night, Cauce gets an email from Linden Rhoads, a member of the UW Board of Regents.
"If I needed a reminder of how much Husky Athletics means to our community — and I probably did," Rhoads writes, "I have it in the form of my phone blowing up with inquiry, anxiety, excitement, and jubilation as it hasn't over any other issue UW faces."
Just after midnight Aug. 5, a UW communications staffer sends Cauce and Cohen talking points and a "message triangle" preparing for an afternoon news conference announcing the move.
"This was heart wrenching, it was backwards and forwards and there were moments when I thought it was going in one direction and then in another," Cauce says, on the video news conference. "But we need to embrace the future and I'm excited about moving forward."
