Tag: Pac-12 survival

Pac-12 presidents, George Kliavkoff ignored widely available industry expertise

In July of 2022, after USC left for the #B1G, a consultant estimated a #Pac12 media deal could get $30M per school. He was ignored.

You know by now that the Pac-12 presidents rejected a 2022 offer by ESPN which, if accepted, would have paid out $30 million per school and likely saved the conference. That’s really bad. It’s yet another embarrassment for a conference which is on its last legs and has been reduced to just four schools.

Yet, it gets worse. It always gets worse in the Pac-12. This is how the conference operates. There are always a few more details which make a bad situation even more embarrassing than we all appreciated 24 or 48 hours earlier.

The latest damning details come from Pac-12 insider John Canzano. In his report about longtime sports executive and administrator Oliver Luck being brought in as a consultant to the remaining Pac-4 schools, Canzano also included some notes on a media industry expert the Pac-12 presidents very clearly ignored over the past 13 months.

We have details on that and a lot more below. It’s going to be even more of a headache, but you have to read these details to get an even fuller picture of how badly the Pac-12 presidents messed up:

George Kliavkoff’s biggest mistake as Pac-12 commissioner is beyond dispute

The debate is over: Kliavkoff made one fatal error, now that we know the #Pac12 presidents rejected a conference-saving ESPN deal.

The news on Friday was infuriating and depressing to anyone who cares about the Pac-12 and wanted the conference to survive. The Pac-12 presidents reportedly rejected an ESPN deal which would have paid each member school $30 million per year. That figure would have kept the conference together and alive. The number would have been very competitive with the number the Big 12 eventually arrived at, which was $31.7 million per year.

The Pac-12 getting $30 million per year for every remaining school without USC and UCLA would have been roughly as impressive as the Big 12 fetching $31.7 million per year for every member school with Texas and Oklahoma out the door.

There’s a lot to process here, but we begin with the simple truth that the Pac-12 presidents are more responsible for the destruction of the conference as we knew it (maybe it will survive as the Pac-4 plus some Mountain West members; we will see) than George Kliavkoff is. The deal was there and the presidents shot it down.

However, this doesn’t let Kliavkoff off the hook. In fact, it exposes his biggest and most obvious mistake as Pac-12 commissioner.

It’s actually not that hard to pin down.

Kliavkoff, with that 2022 ESPN deal in hand, needed to tell the Pac-12 presidents, “You must take this deal. It is as good as you can reasonably expect. You wanted me to deliver a media rights deal. This is it, take it or leave it. If you reject it, I will resign my position immediately.”

Leaders need to lead. They sometimes need to speak tough truths and tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. George Kliavkoff was unwilling or unable to tell Pac-12 presidents the truth. He was unable to put his foot down in a moment of great consequence.

Let’s continue to process this story by gathering reactions from across the Pac-12 and the nation, as everyone continues to wonder how Pac-12 presidents could be so shortsighted and out of touch with reality:

Pac-12 merger with Mountain West is a huge political headache … but it’s necessary

We can’t mention every last logistical element of a #Pac12 – #MountainWest merger, but we can focus on the main ones.

The Pac-12 has become the Pacific four, whittled to a small group of schools. Of these four schools, the only one with some degree of leverage is Stanford, an elite academic institution with a robust sports program in the Bay Area television market and none of the financial woes of Cal-Berkeley, its Bay Area neighbor.

Yet, Stanford isn’t calling the shots here. It can make a pitch to the Big Ten, which would seem like the obvious landing spot for the Cardinal, but the Big Ten ultimately has to want the “Trees.” How the Big Ten considers its options is a plot point worth paying attention to, but the larger point is that the Big Ten will decide if Stanford joins. Stanford will not decide if it goes to the Big Ten. It can’t make it happen. It can only hope for it to happen and pray the Big Ten says yes.

It’s similar in the Big 12, where Oregon State and Washington State would love to join, but the Big 12 has to want to invite the two schools. That doesn’t seem likely. Stanford to the Big Ten has a better chance of happening than Oregon State and Wazzu going to the Big 12.

If these four schools are denied entry into Power Five conferences, the Pac-12 merger with the Mountain West will need to happen.

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Tribune wrote a very detailed examination of the Pac-12 and the Mountain West. We’ll unpack what he said and offer our own analysis as well.

Here we go:

Trojans Wire joins Big 12 analyst to discuss unfolding Pac-12 nightmare

#Big12 expert @TylerJonesLive has a great podcast. We joined the show to discuss #Pac12 stupidity and death, plus realignment.

The Pac-12 is on its deathbed. Will there be an 11th-hour cure produced by an intervention with a better media rights package, or at least a supplement to the Apple deal? Will the Pac-12 not really have any other options to offer to its remaining members? Will anyone get cold feet? Will Oregon and Washington be invited by the Big Ten? What about Stanford and Cal?

A lot of things are about to happen in college sports, but they haven’t yet happened. With a lot of events not yet finalized as of Friday morning, the situation is still fluid and things are up in the air. While the situation remains fluid, we might as well discuss some realignment scenarios and express in more concrete terms just how badly the Pac-12 messed everything up.

We joined Tyler Jones’ superb podcast to discuss these various topics. Tyler has covered the Big 12 for a long time, but he also covers the Seattle Seahawks and a few other NFL teams for Chat Sports. Tyler is excellent at what he does. Follow him and listen to his shows:

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092269]

Biggest frustration with the Pac-12? It’s hard to pick just one

No clarity. No guts. No intelligence. So much has been lacking in the #Pac12’s response. It’s not just one thing. It’s everything.

We noted earlier this week that George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 CEO Group did not understand the stakes involved when the CEOs interviewed Kliavkoff for the Pac-12 commissioner job.

If the two parties — the interviewer and the interviewee — really grasped what was on the line, they would have created a clear understanding that Kliavkoff needed to be fully empowered to act to save the conference. The presidents and chancellors had to get out of the way and allow Kliavkoff to strike a deal.

If Kliavkoff did feel — at any point in the process — that the Pac-12 presidents were restraining him and preventing him from doing his job properly, he either should have resigned or should have threatened to resign. One way or another, the commish and the presidents were not on the same page. Whether you blame Kliavkoff or the Pac-12 CEO Group, it’s clear the two sides didn’t have a firm understanding of what needed to be done. That’s a huge frustration for Pac-12 fans with this larger process.

Ducks Wire helped us identify other specific frustrations with this very sad saga in the Pac-12:

Pac-12 media rights disaster: no Plan B even as Big 12 votes to include Arizona

The walls seem to be closing in on the #Pac12, so where’s the Plan B to stave off extinction? No one seemed to have planned ahead.

Thursday night, the Big 12 voted to approve the inclusion of the University of Arizona to the conference. The Arizona Board of Regents still has to approve the move, which it hasn’t yet done. Arizona State University President Michael Crow, a longtime defender of Larry Scott and someone clearly vested in the preservation of the Pac-12, doesn’t want to leave. Yet, he can see the conference crumbling around him. He knows this media deal isn’t generating sufficient revenue. He knows the ASU community wants to get out of the Pac-12 and leave this sinking ship before it descends to the bottom of the Pacific (12) Ocean.

The writing is on the wall.

Crow wants to delay this move as long as possible, partly to see if George Kliavkoff can come up with an alternative rescue plan, but mostly due to optics. He wants to be seen as a guy who defended the Pac-12 to the very end and didn’t relish moving to the Big 12 at all (which would be true enough).

Crow’s move reeks of desperation, but it does buy Kliavkoff at least a little time to come up with a Plan B. However, are there any signs of that alternative plan? Is there any indication Kliavkoff or the Pac-12 are doing anything to stave off extinction? Our friends at Ducks Wire are just as bewildered as we are.

Let’s look at the details of this unfolding media rights catastrophe in the Pac-12, which is now on its deathbed for reasons which were entirely preventable:

Realignment: Will Arizona go to the Big 12?

More realignment banter with @Ducks_Wire. Is Arizona going to bolt for the #Big12 as most expect?

We are exploring realignment scenarios with our friends at Ducks Wire.

Next up in the queue: Will Arizona go to the Big 12 Conference?

Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: Yes, along with Utah and Colorado.

Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: It sure seems like it. If the Pac-12 TV deal really is a streaming deal with no significant ESPN or Turner component, that’s the ballgame. Arizona will bolt. The solution should have been for ESPN to pay more money in a shorter time frame.

Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: Every Oregon fan sure hopes so. It appears that the Ducks going to the Big Ten hinges on the Four Corner schools following Colorado to the Big 12. If that doesn’t happen, then I want the last 10 days of my life back.

Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: The Arizona rumors have been circulating, which makes sense because of the basketball program. Arizona State is a different story, and my money is on the Wildcats (if anybody), but not the Sun Devils.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092282]

Realignment: Will the Pac-12 die?

.@Ducks_Wire joined us for a very brief conversation about the possible death of the #Pac12.

Will the Pac-12 die? Trojans Wire and Ducks Wire are discussing this and other realignment scenarios.

Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: In its current form, yes. The remaining schools (OSU, WSU) will end up in a new Pac with most of the Mountain West schools. I’m just stunned this is what it has turned into.

Matt Zemek, Trojans Wire: As of Wednesday night, yes. That said, this saga has had an absurd amount of very wild plot twists. Would anyone be that surprised if it survives?

Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: If George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 can find a way out of this, my hat is off to them. The death certificate has been signed and sealed as far as I’m concerned, and we’re just waiting for it to be delivered. Should be any day now.

Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: At this point in time, the Pac-12 Conference seems to be on its final legs. The media deal isn’t going well, and if Oregon, Washington, Cal and Stanford leave (not to mention Arizona), there isn’t much hope. A Mountain West merger might be the final outcome.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092235]

Why George Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 should be talking to Florida State and the ACC

Florida State wants out of the ACC. This doesn’t mean the #Pac12 should invite FSU, but it could offer a last-minute rescue plan.

We are talking about college sports realignment now, much as we did throughout July of 2022 after USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten.

It has been striking to notice how many articles we wrote in July of 2022 which are still very applicable to the larger college sports scene in August of 2023. These are not settled matters. These are not resolved questions. They are still up in the air and could break in various directions.

One item still unresolved from last summer is whether the ACC’s grant of rights really is an airtight seal keeping teams from leaving the conference, or whether it can be torn up and renegotiated. It has a lot to do with Florida State and Clemson. It could also give the Pac-12 a possible avenue to a last-minute survival plan.

Let’s walk through the details here and explain them:

Trojans Wire goes on Salt Lake City radio show to discuss possible Pac-12 death

#Pac12DeathWatch is officially on. We joined @KSLUnrivaled on Wednesday afternoon to talk about it.

The Pac-12 is in critical condition. The patient has lost a lot of blood and needs to be stabilized. Will it survive? We don’t know, but it isn’t looking particularly good at the moment.

Will there be an 11th-hour intervention from ESPN or another interested media party which sees significant importance in preserving the Pac-12 to prevent Fox, the Big Ten, Oregon, Washington, Stanford, or another entity from gaining a perceived advantage in another realignment reshuffle?

Can the Pac-12 scramble to find a last-minute alternative plan? Don’t get your hopes up there, but then again, all of this is absurd. Maybe the Pac-12 saving itself at the hour of death could be the most absurd plot twist to emerge from this crazy saga.

We talked to Scott Mitchell (yes, the former Detroit Lion quarterback) on the KSL Unrivaled radio show in Salt Lake City to discuss the Pac-12’s many missteps and why the conference is in such pronounced peril:

Stay with Trojans Wire for more on the realignment circus … and Pac-12 Death Watch. It’s real.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092235]