Former commissioner John Swofford locked the conference into a potentially disastrous long-term deal with ESPN through 2036. The ACC, far more than the Big Ten or Pac-12, is suddenly facing urgency to do something drastic. The question is, will it ultimately be his call? Given all that, and given Kliavkoff, formerly president of entertainment and sports for MGM Resorts, came to the job with no preexisting loyalty to college sports’ traditional structure, multiple sources expect him to think boldly and outside the box. Neither BYU or Boise State have garnered interest from the league in the past, and that doesn’t figure to change this time around. In speaking with Pac-12 coaches, ADs and league officials here Tuesday, there was consensus agreement that it is unlikely to covet any of the eight remaining Big 12 schools, given they’d be unlikely to drive added value to the next TV deal. “The exposure gap, the financial gap, needs to be closed to give all 12 of our institutions the chance to continue to excel in the changing landscape.īut how does the Pac-12 do that with no obvious home run candidates west of the Rockies? “We need to close that financial gap,” Oregon AD Rob Mullens said Tuesday. Unfortunately, the SEC and Big Ten may be approaching $90 million per school by then. Projections conducted for The Athletic last year by research firm Navigate estimated its per-team payouts to rise from just $33 million in 2020 to $60 million by the end of the decade. If the Pac-12 ultimately sticks with its current membership, it will still likely garner a spike in its TV rights due to the overwhelming demand for live sports and near-exclusive hold on the #Pac12AfterDark window. If there’s consolidation, that helps us.” If there’s chaos happening elsewhere in the college football landscape, I think that helps us. I like our opportunities, I like our unique geography and footprint. That just doesn’t make sense to me,” Kliavkoff told The Athletic. “I reject the idea that if someone else has 16 teams, we need to have 16 teams. Kliavkoff expressed confidence Tuesday that the pending consolidation to four power conferences won’t harm the Pac-12, and could in fact work to its benefit. It can finally get out from under ex-commissioner Larry Scott’s archaic deals and failed conference network. After years of league-wide grumbling over the increasing financial gap between the Pac-12 and the Big Ten and SEC money machines, the conference will finally go to market soon for a new set of television contracts to begin in 2024. The latest realignment wave comes at an interesting moment for Kliavkoff’s conference. Bottom line is, everyone’s got to situate themselves in the best financial arrangement, and everyone’s going to be scrambling to not be left out.” “The entire landscape of college football and its structure is going to change dramatically. “This is just the beginning,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said Tuesday about conference realignment. The question bouncing around the hallways of the W Hotel here Tuesday: Is the Pac-12 suddenly at risk of having its own marquee programs poached? After the Texas and Oklahoma SEC bombshell, suddenly something like USC and Oregon to the Big Ten or ACC doesn’t sound as wild as it would have just a week ago. We will work with our presidents and chancellors to evaluate these opportunities.” We have already had significant inbound interest from many schools. “That said, the fallout from Texas and Oklahoma gives us an opportunity to once again consider expansion. “We do not think expansion is required to continue to compete and thrive,” Kliavkoff told a hotel ballroom full of reporters.
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