With a $7 billion media money, did Big Ten plan a coup to finish off Pac-12 and a multi-year Apple TV media rights deal?

The Big Ten has been one of the more active conferences in terms of college football realignment. They have added multiple schools from the Pac-12, making the future of the latter uncertain.

Part of the reason why the Pac-12 has an uncertain future is due to the media rights deal with Apple, which some schools weren't happy about.

The Big Ten saw an opportunity to add more schools to their conference from the Pac-12. According to Washington State president Kirk Schulz, who also chairs the Pac-12 board of directors, the Big Ten poached Oregon and Washington so the Apple deal wouldn't happen.

“I do think if I was Fox and ESPN, I’m not sure I want Apple in the marketplace, frankly. I don’t want somebody with pockets that are that deep as a rival if I can afford it.

"Was it a strategic move on their part to say, ‘If we kill the Apple deal, that gives us five or six years without them in college football?’” Schulz said.

Schulz is not the first person to think that Fox and ESPN were scared of Apple entering college football. Outgoing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith recently implied that Fox paid for Oregon and Washington to join the Big Ten and leave the Pac-12.

Before adding the Pac-12 schools, the Big Ten completed a seven-year $7 billion media rights deal with Fox, CBS and NBC. With the incoming Pac-12 schools, it's estimated that the media rights deal could be worth $8 billion.

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Will the Pac-12 survive?

If indeed the Big Ten was afraid of Apple joining the college football landscape, the conference did a good job in dissembling the Pac-12.

However, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff has been adamant that the conference will remain. The hope is to add teams, but that doesn't appear likely to happen; instead, a merger seems more likely.

The Mountain West Conference and American Athletic Conference appear to be the most likely to merge with the Pac-12. MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez recently told ESPN:

"A lot of it is just trying to sort fact from fiction out there," Nevarez said. "There's just so much information about what's going on, and not all of it is true. From my perspective, it's been a matter of connecting with our athletic directors and presidents and contacts that I have in the industry to try to provide our board the best information out there...

"We're open to everything. Nothing is being shut down at this point."

However, no deal has been made, but there's no question if the Pac-12 doesn't survive, the Big Ten would be a big reason for that.