It was San Francisco’s tech prowess that drew the new sports media production arm of the Pac-12 Conference to The City, according to the chief executive of the company.
Gary Stevenson, the newly appointed head of the recently launched Pac-12 Enterprises, said the rise of digital technology and an increased international interest in collegiate sports made San Francisco the right choice for the operation, which is set to include up to 150 new employees.
Although Stevenson declined to divulge which tech companies the Pac-12 group might partner with, he said the potential for new Web video and social media platforms is greater here than in television-centric Los Angeles.
“For the industry we’re in, there’s a very rich talent pool of creative production and programming types,” Stevenson said of San Francisco. “There’s also this excitement here, relative to other markets that have been beaten down by the economy.”
Pac-12 Enterprises, a subsidiary company of the conference that is in charge of media content, is planning to broadcast some of the conference’s 850 annual sporting events from a studio in its new San Francisco headquarters. That means increased coverage of women’s sports, plus every conference football game and men’s basketball game not carried by the Pac-12’s national telecast partners, ESPN and Fox Sports.
In December, the company announced an 11-year lease for multiple floors of a building at 370 Third St. in the South of Market neighborhood. Stevenson said the operation — including directors, editors, digital media specialists and a sales team — is set to begin running this summer, ideally by July 1.
The move was lauded by Mayor Ed Lee, who sees the Pac-12 Enterprises entry as indicative of a larger business buildup happening in The City.
“The companies are coming in,” Lee said, adding that he wants to help stoke global interest in the conference through The City’s ChinaSF international business development program. “They’re going to change the content of the Pac-12 so there will be 10 times the amount of attraction in social media.”
Stevenson said Pac-12 Enterprises also plans to push the collegiate-level Olympic games in the international market, as the universities provide some of the highest-level play in sports such as water polo. Basketball and football already enjoy growing popularity, especially in the Pac-12’s overseas target audience on the Pacific Rim, Stevenson said.
An international audience would also include students studying abroad or the vast number of Pac-12 alumni living in Asia.
“Of course, there’s that tribal relationship you have with your school,” Stevenson said. “The alums are interested in what we’re doing.”
Scoring points in The City
11: Number of years on lease in South of Market neighborhood
12: Number of universities in the Pac-12
150: Maximum number of employees at new office
444: Number of NCAA titles won by Pac-12 schools
850: Annual number of televised sporting events involving Pac-12 schools
Source: Pac-12 Enterprises
