Pac-12 TV deal worth as much as $285 million in a year?

That's the number Jon Wilner, the excellent writer at the San Jose Mercury-News, came up with.

On his blog, Wilner has an expert's analysis of many of the major business issues for the conference moving forward. At the forefront is just how much money the conference will actually receive anually from its $3 billion network deal.

Wilner took to a calculator and, factoring in a 4 percent increase each year, approximated that the first year of the contract would bring the conference $185 million and could grow by $100 million over the course of the 12-year deal. It's fascinating stuff, and well worth your time if you're into the nuts and bolts of how this conference works and will affect the Utes.

Other points of interest addressed by Wilner:

• The league is still considering a permanent Pac-12 tournament in either Los Angeles or Las Vegas. If the Pac-12 goes to the rotating conference tournament, it won't soon be in Oregon or Arizona — neither state submitted a bid. The Tribune reported last summer that the Utah Sports Commission has been pushing to bring the tournament to Salt Lake City.

• The Pac-12 network would like be available on basic cable in the primary markets in the conference, including Salt Lake.

— Bill Oram