George Kliavkoff’s Trouble And SDSU’s New Leverage
The Conference of Champions is only as strong as its weakest link.
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George Kliavkoff arrived on July 21st to the Pac-12 Football Media Days empty handed, and that held real consequences.
Las Vegas, NV– On January 1, 2023, the college sports world came to terms with the Pac-12 conference’s failure to finalize its media rights agreement during 2022. It came as no surprise, because on December 2nd commissioner George Kliavkoff told reporters there was “no rush” to sign a media deal.
That might have been the college sports understatement of the century.
Fast forwarding to June 30th, 2023, a media deal was still incomplete. Soon after, July 21st brought the Pac-12’s Football Media Days event: the last, best opportunity for George Kliavkoff to keep the remaining ten members of the Conference of Champions intact. Instead of delivering, Kliavkoff made it clear he was there to talk football, not a media deal, and that message sailed over the press like a lead balloon. The word “media” being in the event’s name must have escaped the bizarrely charismatic Pac-12 commish.
Well into the third quarter of 2023, the Pac-12 media rights Mystery Box has officially crossed the Rubicon. What’s a Mystery Box, you ask? Nobody knows what’s actually in it . . . but it’s going to be great.
The Mystery Box is “an I.O.U. that’s just as good as money- I swear.”
With Pac-12 Football Media Days in the rearview mirror, the Mystery Box has officially become a Misery Box. Any universities still waiting on Kliavkoff must either have concrete facts about a deal, or must face a reality that they operate with an external locus of control. It is now reckless for Pac-12 members to faithfully hope for the best, without hardcore facts.
Today, the University of Colorado addressed that reality, announcing they will return to the BIG-12 in 2024. They have given the Pac-12 under George Kliavkoff a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE. It was an avoidable loss, but Kliavkoff did not convince Colorado staying in conference is its wisest choice. Clearly, the Pac-12 Football Media Days was Colorado’s deadline.
During Media Days, the San Diego Union Tribune asked Kliavkoff if the Pac-12 led San Diego State to believe an invite was forthcoming, and then further asked if the Aztecs made any assumptions they shouldn’t have.
Kliavkoff replied, “I’m not going to disclose my conversations with any potential expansion candidates. I will tell you, generally speaking, we’ve never given anyone an indication that anything would be different than the sequence I just mentioned, which is get our media rights deal done, Grant of Rights signed, then we’ll consider expansion.”
Then, Colorado left.
With the Pac-12 hemorrhaging programs again, it’s time to stop the bleeding. After offering up a non-committal response regarding San Diego State’s candidacy, Kliavkoff might have proverbially cut off his nose. Now, with just nine teams, the Pac-12 will need a tenth to finalize a media deal.
Now, San Diego State (which was recently left flapping in the wind by the Pac-12) might consider applying leverage. Being a logical tenth program, SDSU would be wise to ask the Pac-12 to pay its exit fees, and offer equal dollars received by legacy universities. The Pac-12 would be wise to act fast.
Then again, a bird in the hand worth two in the bush and the Mountain West is unquestionably rock solid. SDSU has been dinged already while acting in good faith, and might be best served just forgetting the Pac-12 altogether.
George Kliavkoff had better act fast to save his conference.
