LAS VEGAS – At the moment, the Pac-12 Conference doesn’t have a new media rights deal for its future, but commissioner George Kliavkoff isn’t concerned.
In fact, the commissioner was quite confident in the future of the conference when he spoke Friday at Pac-12 media day at Resorts World Las Vegas.
“We’ve had several dozen board meetings in the last year,” Kliavkoff said. “We constantly update our board. I think they’re enthusiastic, like I am, about the media deal. But I will tell you what we’ve seen is the longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get. I think our board realizes that.
“There’s an underlying shift in the media market that’s happening and we’re long-term taking advantage of that but short term it may have provided some hiccups.”
Last summer, UCLA and USC announced they will leave the Pac-12 in 2024 for the Big Ten, changing the long-term look of the conference. Over the past year, hiccups have included numerous false reports of a media rights deal coming “soon,” reports of some schools, including Colorado, exploring options of leaving for other conferences, and the narrative that the Pac-12 could fall apart all together.
The Pac-12’s current media rights deal expires in 2024 and Kliavkoff again said a deal is coming.
“The Pac-12 board of directors has met regularly throughout the process and has been united in their commitment to one another and to the Pac-12 and this commitment and patience will be rewarded with an announcement in the near future,” he said. “Getting the right deal has always been more important to our board and to the conference than getting the expeditious one.”
For months, it’s been rumored that the Big 12 has targeted Colorado and the other so-called four corners schools (Arizona, Arizona State and Utah) for expansion. Some reports have said CU is the most ready to jump. Kliavkoff doesn’t expect teams to leave, however.
“It’s not a concern,” he said of other conferences poaching Pac-12 schools. “Our schools are committed to each other and to the Pac-12. We’ll get our media rights deal done. We’ll announce the deal. I think the realignment that’s going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle and then the truth is we’ve got bigger fish to fry. There are incredible opportunities and also challenges in front of college athletics.”
As for the talk of the Pac-12 collapsing, Kliavkoff said, “Well, I sit in the board meetings and I see the commitment that all of our schools have to each other. And I also kind of know where the sources of that is coming from. So I discount that because I know the truth.”
At one point, Kliavkoff said, “We’re not announcing a media deal on purpose today because I want the focus to be on football.” That comment seemed to imply that a deal was done and an announcement was being held for another day, but when asked about that, Kliavkoff smiled and said, “I think you’re reading too much into that.”
There has also been discussion about the Pac-12 looking to expand, with San Diego State and SMU rumored to be two of the main targets. Kliavkoff said expansion is not the conference’s top priority.
“While we’ve already done the due diligence on expansion candidates many months ago and significantly narrowed our focus to a handful of schools, our sequence remains unchanged,” he said. “First, we will conclude our media rights deals, then our schools will sign our grant of rights, which has already been negotiated and only then will we decide on potential expansion.”
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