The Pac-12 plans to offer loans to each of its member schools' athletic departments if the 2020 college football season is canceled because of COVID-19, according to internal documents obtained by theย Mercury News' Jon Wilner.ย
The loans would provide up to $83 million per school at an interest rate of 3.75% paid over 10 years, according to Wilner. If each school accepted the loan at the maximum allowable amount, the Pac-12's loan program would reach $996 million.
However, Wilner reported that not every school is likely to take the loan, and that some could request less than the maximum amount.
This loan program would not only cover lost revenue โ football is responsible for at least $50 million per year in television and ticket money, Wilner reported โย but it would prevent athletic departments from layoffs and furloughs. The loans would take some pressure off individual universities to bail out their athletic departments, especially since the schools are bracing for financial hits of their own.
The Pac-12's $1.2 billion media rights contracts with ESPN and Fox, which run through 2024, could serve as collateral for the loan program, Wilner reported. Even with a canceled college football season, the league would bring in $917 million in television revenue for the 2022-24 fiscal years. That figure alone would be nearly enough to cover the loans.
