LAS VEGAS โ In his first public comments in 226 days on the Pac-12โs pursuit of a media rights contract, commissioner George Kliavkoff said an agreement will come in the โnear futureโ โ and that the lengthy delay has worked to the conferenceโs benefit.
โThe longer we wait, the better our options get, and I think the board (of directors) realizes that,โ Kliavkoff said Friday morning during a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Pac-12โs preseason media showcase at Resorts World Las Vegas.
There has been โan underlying shiftโ recently in the media landscape and market for live sports, he added. โWeโre taking advantage of that. But short-term, it has provided some hiccups.โ
Kliavkoffโs tone was vastly more matter-of-fact than his feisty performance at the same event last summer. Back then, the news of USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten was raw, and Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark had declared his league โopen for businessโ โ a comment Kliavkoff interpreted as an attempt to destabilize the Pac-12.
Media speculation about the Big 12 poaching the so-called Four Corners schools (Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah) has been rampant for the last year. But none of the schools have left.
โI kind of know where the source of that is coming from,โโ Kliavkoff said. โI discount that because I know the truth.โ
Utahโs Mark Harlan, chair of the Pac-12 Athletic Directors Committee, joined Kliavkoff on the main stage and was asked about his schoolโs commitment to the conference.
Months ago, Harlan made headlines by announcing, โWe are not leavingโ on social media.
โOur words and actions speak for themselves,โ he said Friday. โWe are proud members of Pac-12.โ
Kliavkoff did not specify a window for resolution on the media rights deal beyond his โnear futureโ comment but said the conference has performed due diligence on expansion candidates.
The timeline for a decision laid out last summer is unchanged: Expansion will be addressed only after the Pac-12 secures a media contract and the university presidents sign a grant-of-rights agreement.
That grant-of-rights deal, which binds each schoolโs media revenue to the conference and provides vital security, โhas already been negotiated,โ Kliavkoff said.
On expansion discussions with San Diego State, which has anticipated a membership invitation for months, Kliavkoff added:
โIโm not going to disclose conversations with any candidates. Weโve never given anyone an indication that (the process) would be anything differentโ than the original sequence.