Tag: Pac-12 Conference

REPORT: Pac-12 higher-up says conference will look at opportunities to ‘trade up’ given Colorado’s departure

A Pac-12 higher-up reportedly said that with Colorado leaving, the conference will discuss opportunities to “trade up”

No matter how many schools leave or how many months pass without a media rights deal, the sky never seems to be falling in the eyes of the Pac-12.

Colorado’s near-complete return to the Big 12 leaves the Pac-12 without one of its premier television markets and with only nine schools currently committed to the 2024-25 academic year. Nevertheless, one member of the Pac-12’s CEO Group remains optimistic that the conference can make a full recovery from the Buffs’ departure.

Pac-12 insider John Canzano reported the following on Thursday morning (subscription required):

The Pac-12 CEO Group has called a meeting for Thursday afternoon. The conference athletic directors will be included on the call. They’ll talk about their media-rights options. One member of the CEO Group told me they will “discuss the opportunity to ‘trade up’ through expansion given Colorado’s decision.”

Unless the Pac-12 can miraculously convince a Power Five school to leave its conference, there doesn’t appear to be many options out there to “trade up.” San Diego State and its formidable media market look to be the Pac-12’s best option for expansion, although the Aztecs bring far less to the table compared to Colorado. In June, San Diego State announced its intentions to leave the Mountain West but ultimately decided to stay — likely due to an inconvenient additional exit fee and the lack of an offer from the Pac-12.

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Tony’s Take: The Pac-12’s fate has long been sealed

Tony’s Take: Colorado leaving may be the nail in the coffin, but the Pac-12’s fate has been sealed for some time now

With news of the Buffaloes moving back to the Big 12 Conference, Colorado has become, as Dan Wolken of USA TODAY Sports puts it, the “tipping point” of the Pac-12/Big 12 debate.

The Big 12 has won via a 10th-round knockout. But the writing has been on the wall for the Pac-12 for more than a year now.

Ever since USC and UCLA announced they were headed to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 has been struggling to survive as a conference. From its well-publicized issues with securing a media rights deal to rumors of its remaining marquee schools being courted by other conferences, this was something that was never going to be fixed by adding a couple of Mountain West schools.

The Pac-12’s standing as a Power Five conference had been called into question, and the initial domino of USC and UCLA moving underlined this issue (h/t USA TODAY Sports):

Sure, you can have a nice football league with Oregon, Washington and Utah and have Arizona basketball carry your banner in March. But is that really a power conference? The Pac-12 hasn’t had a representative in the College Football Playoff since 2016, and the cold reality is that UCLA and USC leaving has diminished the league in a way that it had no real chance to recover from.

We may be looking at the last days of the Pac-12.

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Twitter reaction to reports of Colorado exploring a move to the Big 12

.@BuffaloesWire is extremely busy. We’re also very interested in how this story is resonating on Twitter. See for yourself:

Colorado could be on its way out the door in the Pac-12. The Buffaloes could head for the Big 12, maybe even by the time you read this.

Buffaloes Wire’s Tony Cosolo wrote the following about moving to the Big 12:

“Realignment rumors have been running rampant ever since Deion Sanders was named head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes football team, and I’ll take some credit for bringing up a move to the Big 12 last July. This is mainly because CU football is once again an appealing program for other conferences. Plus, the mismanagement of the Pac-12 Conference essentially forced the Buffs out.”

Follow Buffaloes Wire for continuing coverage of this story.

See how Twitter reacted to the initial reports of Colorado creating another massive realignment earthquake in college sports:

Oregon, picked fourth in Pac-12 football media poll, has to prove itself

.@Ducks_Wire sees this 4th-place vote as bulletin-board material for Oregon and Dan Lanning. We agree.

The Pac-12 preseason media poll had the USC Trojans on top by a good amount. One big development was that the Oregon Ducks were picked to finish fourth behind USC, Washington, and Utah, respectively.

With Bo Nix returning and Dan Lanning in his second year in Eugene, Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire explained why this could end up being bulletin board material for the Ducks:

“While the Ducks are still predicted to finish in the top half of the league, the projection from media members shows it might be a frustrating year for Dan Lanning and his team… Bulletin board material? I wouldn’t be shocked. Of course, with as much talent as there is in the conference — USC, Washington, Utah, and Oregon State are all ranked in the top 25 going into the year — it would be understandable for any team to stumble a couple of times throughout the fall. However, Duck fans have high expectations for this team considering the depth of talent on the roster.”

Check out Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews:

Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State

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Colorado athletic director abruptly leaves Pac-12 media day after George Kliavkoff presser

Kliavkoff botched the #Pac12 media rights part of his long-anticipated remarks. Colorado AD Rick George went to the airport.

A few big stories dominated Pac-12 media day. The biggest story, whether anyone likes it or not, was Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff doing a relatively poor job of handling the topic national writers and commentators were primarily interested in: the Pac-12’s media rights negotiations. Kliavkoff’s remarks suggested that the Pac-12 had arrived at a deal or was extremely close to nailing down a deal. When pressed to clarify his remarks, Kliavkoff said no one should read too much into them.

Kliavkoff perpetuated the story and added to the lingering sense of uncertainty in the conference, instead of finding a middle-ground way to say that progress had been made in negotations, but not enough to have a fully-finalized deal.

Anyone in the room in Las Vegas could see that Kliavkoff bungled this very important moment, the comissioner’s most public and prominent moment after several months of radio silence on the matter while he engaged in negotiations and held lots of meetings with the Pac-12 CEO Group.

One person who didn’t stick around for the rest of Pac-12 media day after the Kliavkoff press conference early in the morning: Colorado Athletic Director Rick George.

In this show at The Voice of College Football with host Mark Rogers, Tony Siracusa of Last Word on College Football reported that George went straight to the airport to catch a flight out of Vegas after Kliavkoff’s unpolished moment in front of the cameras and the press. It was the clearest and most visible sign that Kliavkoff did not perform well in this very public setting.

That was one big story. Get a look at other big stories from around the Pac-12 on media day, including hilarious and shocking quotes from Utah coach Kyle Whittingham:

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff: ‘The longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get’

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said something that likely contradicts what most have been led to believe regarding the conference’s pursuit of a media rights deal

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said something that likely contradicts what most have been led to believe regarding the conference’s media rights deal.

On the surface, one would assume that the Pac-12’s options for a media rights deal would dwindle over time, but that’s apparently far from the case, according to Kliavkoff.

“What we’ve seen is the longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get,” Kliavkoff said on Friday at Pac-12 football media day. “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.”

Kliavkoff added that he and his Pac-12 board remain “enthusiastic” about the deal’s potential despite growing outside concern.

From a Colorado perspective, chancellor Phil DiStefano told The Denver Post earlier this week that the university’s goal is to stay Pac-12 members. That could change, however, depending on the media rights deal that Kliavkoff is able to secure.

Ultimately, the Buffs are in wait-and-see mode with this media rights deal, although several reports have indicated that Colorado is in conversation with the Big 12.

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

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Phil DiStefano reiterates that Colorado’s ‘goal’ is to stay Pac-12 members

While he’s eagerly awaiting the looming media rights deal, Phil DiStefano reiterated that Colorado’s “goal” is to stay Pac-12 members

Pac-12 media day is underway and discussions of a new media rights deal have swirled for far too long. San Diego State’s hopes of joining another conference were wrecked as it’s now staying in the Mountain West, and the Colorado Buffaloes are another program that has been rumored to leave and head for the Big 12.

However, with no media rights deal yet for the Pac-12, CU chancellor Phil DiStefano gave some insight on what the future might hold for the Buffs (h/t Sean Keeler of The Denver Post):

“I’m eagerly awaiting to hear what the commissioner (George Kliavkoff) has to say (at Pac-12 media day). But at this point, the 10 (Pac-12) schools are staying together and awaiting a message from the commissioner,” DiStefano told The Post on Wednesday. “(CU’s) goal is to stay within the Pac-12 and have a media deal coming up shortly. That’s our goal. And I believe the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 are together on that.”

Back in April, DiStefano gave a similar answer when asked about Colorado’s future in the Pac-12.

The rumors have swirled about Pac-12 expansion and with USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten after this season, who knows what it will look like in a year or two. But, for now, the Buffs are reportedly planning to stay in the Pac-12, although the new media rights deal could change that altogether.

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

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A conference got a TV deal from the CW … and it’s not the Pac-12

Remember all the jokes about the #Pac12 being on Ion Television? Guess what? The #ACC struck a CW deal.

The constant intrigue and uncertainty surrounding the Pac-12 and its media rights deal has led us down several interesting and unconventional paths.

There was an erroneous report earlier this year that the Pac-12 had agreed to a deal with Ion Television, a widely-available over-the-air channel which airs syndicated reruns of older television shows. The guffawing and chuckling from Big 12 fans and other college sports fans in the wake of that report (though it didn’t turn out to be true) were as predictable as the sun rising in the east. The optics of a Power Five conference putting its football games on a TV network which is a dumping ground for old shows are not great. It’s certainly not ESPN or Turner or Fox.

Yet, guess what? Even though the Pac-12 has not actually finalized a deal with Ion or one of these other syndication-magnet over-the-air networks, the Atlantic Coast Conference has done precisely that. The ACC announced a new football and basketball deal with The CW, another TV outlet which — much like Ion — runs a lot of syndicated content and would never be confused with a “premium” or “Cadillac” television outlet.

All of this raises the question: Will the Pac-12 actually seal an agreement with Ion Television after all? It didn’t happen earlier, but maybe it still will in the near future. Stay tuned.

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Reports suggest Pac-12 won’t invite San Diego State before July 21 (if at all)

Reporting from Pac-12 insiders seems to indicate the conference won’t invite the #Aztecs before media day on Friday, July 21.

If you are looking for any signs of what the Pac-12 might do, and when it might do anything, we are getting some indications.

Pac-12 reporter and columnist John Canzano, at his Substack, gathered some comments from sources who are close to the Pac-12’s media rights and expension discussions.

“How are they feeling about the media deal?

“Said one member of the Pac-12 CEO Group: ‘All good, but our timing is not being driven by media narratives or others’ deadlines.’

“The second part of that quote — ‘others’ deadlines’ — feels aimed the San Diego State conundrum. The Mountain West Conference presidents are meeting on Monday to discuss the Aztecs’ membership status.”

So there you have it. If the Pac-12 felt the need to get in front of this story, it would try to make an invitation to San Diego State by Monday or maybe Tuesday, but no one seems to be in any hurry. If that’s the case, it’s probable — though not certain — that the Pac-12 doesn’t feel the need to announce a media rights deal anytime before Pac-12 media day on Friday, July 21.

None of this is wrong or misguided; it is merely a revelation of the conference’s approach. It doesn’t think it will be beneficial to announce a deal before media day and then add details on media day. July 21 might therefore be the day when the conference shares its big news with the world (if it is ready, which is no guarantee at all).

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If Pac-12 has a media rights deal before July 21, how should it announce it?

We don’t know if the #Pac12 will have a deal before July 21, but if it happens, there’s something it should consider.

The Pac-12 might not have a finalized — or even close to finalized — media rights deal by July 21. That would hurt the conference. Given the Pac-12’s many stumbles and organizational problems in recent years, no one would be too surprised if the conference failed to make a splash by July 21, which is Pac-12 media day. We certainly have to allow for the possibility that the Pac-12 will swing and miss. It has been known to happen.

However, if the Pac-12 secures a media rights deal or at least has 90-95 percent of the framework in place, such that it can present a general dollar range and can confidently speak about San Diego State and SMU as new members, that would be enough to stabilize the conference.

If we work within this specific hypothetical — having a deal or most of a deal in place before July 21 — how should the Pac-12 announce the deal?

This is basically a two-lane answer, but it could be a three-lane answer if you want to be especially precise.

The two general paths the Pac-12 could take in announcing the deal: One, announce it on media day. George Kliavkoff’s address to the media and the public could serve as the vehicle through which all of this becomes known for the first time.

Two, the Pac-12 could leak details of the deal on July 18 or 19 to set up a bigger July 21 announcement.

If the Pac-12 chooses path No. 2, it could share leaked details on multiple days before July 21, not just one day. In this sense, path No. 2 could actually contain additional paths: not just a one-day reveal before July 21, but a collection of smaller revelations.

Maybe the Pac-12 will leak a TV deal on July 18, a digital deal on July 19, and a basketball deal on July 20, before filling in the blanks and offering an expansion announcement on July 21.

Will any of these options come into play, though? The Pac-12 has to actually get that deal done (or very close to done) first.

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