Now the Pacific-12 Conference is aiming to create what would likely be college sports' largest and most futuristic mode of digital distribution yet -- a wholly league-owned and operated platform for streaming content to tablets, smartphones, computers and smart TVs around the world.
The league believes the platform will be a key component to its future success and growth.
"We all know that TV today -- from a dollars standpoint in terms of advertisers -- there's a lot of dollars there," David Aufhauser, the conference's new vice president and general manager of digital media, said in an interview. "But fast-forward five to 10 years down the line, and digital is going to be what holds the cards."
The league says that in the near future it will enable consumers to watch thousands of events each year -- ranging from football, to basketball, to Olympic sports, to non-athletic content -- from any device anywhere on Earth.
Many leagues, teams and conferences have, predictably, increased their digital presence in recent years. But the Pac-12 appears to have ambitions beyond anything seen so far.
"We want to build something that's not just innovative for college sports, but for how sports media and media generally is delivered overall," Aufhauser said.
Details of the plan are still hazy, but Aufhauser's hiring this week represents a significant step forward. He said that the league hopes to have the platform delivering at least some content by this autumn. The digital division will work in concert with the league's television and advertising divisions, but also function as its own operation of sorts.
"We're essentially building a startup, creating our own digital media and content company from the ground up," Aufhauser said. "It's a new property for college sports."