PAC is out of options. If the college presidents turn down the Apple deal, where do they go? Disney is in a world of hurt right now, and they may have trouble meeting the payment requirements for their existing contracts. Their subsidiary, ESPN, was the entity driving the higher prices for the sports package agreements.
With them out of the picture, FOX, Apple, Amazon, etc., are NOT going to care about what the PAC wants. They're not going to bid up a price against air, and nobody else is bidding.
My opinion is that FOX and Comcast sprang a trap on Disney. Rupert Murdoch had a garage sale on all the stuff FOX didn't want anymore. He knew Iger bought everything in sight, and Comcast bid up the price until Disney paid an astounding $71 billion for the properties. This cash strapped Disney. Now, Comcast is, through an old contract, forcing Disney to buy out the rest of Hulu, so the mouse is going to have to come up with billions of dollars that they don't have, and interest rates are the highest they've been in over twenty years. They don't have the money, and I'm not sure they can get the money.
That's why Iger has been talking about selling ABC and getting "strategic partners" for ESPN. What he means is he needs the money fairy to bail them out. He wants someone to give them a cash infusion while letting Disney continue to have controlling interest. That ain't happening. The only organizations with that kind of money aren't going to be passive partners. They're going to want the steering wheel.
Iger has always spent money like a frat boy in a whore house with his daddy's credit card. With him out of the game, prices are going to drop. The remaining schools can sign off on Apple, look for another conference landing spot, or enter the 2024 season with no media contract.