Kliavkoff has to offer substance to save the conference
LOS ANGELES » Watching him on stage Friday at Pac-12 Media Day, you had to wonder whether George Kliavkoff is wondering why he took the gig.
The challenges that were on the menu a year ago when he was a surprise pick to take over as commissioner of the Pac12 Conference — mediarights distribution, revenue production, elevating the conference’s profile — are still there.
But they’re side dishes now. Hors d’oeuvres. The main course is the existential crisis facing Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 Conference as we know it.
On Friday, in his first public remarks since USC and UCLA announced 29 days earlier that they plan to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024, Kliavkoff offered no hints that he’ll prove to be a miracle worker.
Yes, in light of the L.A. schools’ pending departures, the Pac-12 is exploring expansion opportunities. The conference will evaluate, Kliavkoff said, “media value, athletic strength, academic and cultural fit, and geography from a recruiting and student-athlete experience.”
So, like, San Diego
State? Kliavkoff wouldn’t specify.
He also spoke about those other plans, including made-for-television events and new revenue streams from things like the conference’s new baseball and softball championships. And with the Pac12’s current media rights deal with Fox and ESPN, which were negotiated with little foresight by previous commissioner Larry Scott, set to end in 2024, he mentioned ongoing media rights negotiations, which he cautioned “likely take months to complete.”
To be fair, Kliavkoff – who arrived last year having most
recently worked as an
MGM Resorts International executive and having previously led Hulu’s launch — is a media guy, not a magician.
But if he does have a move up his sleeve, his address Friday wasn’t crackling with don’t-let-a-goodcrisis-go-to-waste energy.
Dry-mouthed and gripping the sides of a lectern on stage at Friday’s event at Novo Theater in Los Angeles, Kliavkoff described himself as “bullish about the Pac-12’s future and our opportunities for long-term growth, stability and success.”
He also bemoaned diminished collegiality among collegiate officials and then proclaimed “we’re going to take the high road,” in regard to a question about whether USC misled the conference about its long-term commitment.
And though he said he was “very disappointed” by USC and UCLA’s pending departure, Kliavkoff made it clear that, for the next two years, “we’re rooting for their student-athletes. Because it’s the right thing to do.”
But then he flung some darts from his heels.
He mocked Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s comment that his conference is “open for business.” Not only has the Big 12 been open about possibly expanding further, the Big 12 reportedly is eyeing multiple Pac-12 programs as a way to shore up its membership. According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, those potential targets include Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Utah and possibly Oregon and Washington.
Kliavkoff didn’t take kindly to that report of another potentially decimating raid: “With respect to the Big 12 being open for business, I appreciate that,” he said, quipping sharply, “we haven’t decided if we’re going shopping there or not yet.”
“That remark,” he explained later, “was a reflection of the fact I’ve been spending four weeks trying to defend against grenades that have been lobbed in from every corner of the
Big 12 trying to destabilize our remaining conference.
“I understand why they’re doing it, when you look the relative media value between the two conferences. I get it, I get why they’re scared, why they’re trying to destabilize it. I was just tired of that.”
But no, he noted, “that’s probably not the most collegial thing I’ve ever said.”
It’s not the most collegial
time in college football.
Kliavkoff expressed support for USC and UCLA’s kids, but he also signaled that he’ll be rooting against the Bruins when they defend their decision to leave during an Oct. 17 meeting with the University of California system’s Board of Regents.
“I’d say UCLA is in a really difficult position,” said Kliavkoff of the Bruins, who, like USC, have opted for a seat at the table alongside powers such as Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State. There’s also reportedly a media deal that will pay out $100 million annually to each member.
“There are a lot of constituents related to UCLA who are very, very, very unhappy with the decision,” Kliavkoff said. “Studentathletes, the families of student-athletes. The faculty, the staff. The politicians, the fans, the alumni. There’s a lot of really, really upset people with that decision…
“I can’t give you a percentage chance (that the Bruins stay). I think it’s unlikely. But if they came back, we’d welcome them.”
Following Kliavkoff, the conference’s dozen head football coaches spoke, as coaches do, of adaptability. But their jobs are not to ensure a robust future for a 107-year-old conference,
and so they could couch the seismic shift as all but unavoidable in college sports’ changing landscape.
“We’ll just have to wait and see when all the dust settles where we’re at,” said Coach Kyle Whittingham, whose Utah Utes were predicted to repeat as Pac12 champions in the conference’s preseason media poll. “It’s not settled yet. There’s a lot of dust to come.”
Kliavkoff doesn’t have the same stomach for the change being fueled by massive TV money.
“Taking a step back, looking more broadly at the state of college athletics, it is clear that financial considerations have become the primary driver for many recent decisions in college sports,” he said. “... singular focus on money will certainly cause more harm than good.
“College athletics has a unique structure where conferences and schools compete against each other for resources to support their individual studentathletes, but the long-term viability of the enterprise relies on schools and many conferences being healthy and able to compete.”
He’s not wrong, but it’ll take more than a persuasive philosophical argument and a few biting zingers to win the day. Or the news conference.