That fourth time zone brings in 2.5-3M viewers max which doesn’t justify advertisers overpaying the networks. Therefore the networks won’t overpay conferences. There is an inherent ceiling, fair or not. 80% of the country lives outside of the PAC footprint and are finishing their own games by 11 PM EST. They don’t stay up en masse to watch PAC games. Doesn’t matter how many ranked teams a conference has. If it doesn’t have the inherent viewers it is limited.

Amazon will only pay what the PAC wants if it gets exclusive Tier 1 rights. PAC can’t dictate to ESPN and Amazon what they must buy. ESPN can always get that late night window luring PAC schools to the Big 12. Fox has the LA schools and MW. Trying competing with SEC, B1G, Big 12, and ACC day slots on linear and streaming platforms via ESPN and ESPN + or Fox or the Fox Sports Ap when you only have Amazon. Won’t be pretty. Remember when the MW was primarily on the Mtn and had TCU, Utah, and BYU perennially ranked? How many people cared? Not many.