After defections, who's in charge of the Pac-12? Answer unclear as the lawyers dig in

One week after presiding over the collapse of a 108-year-old conference, George Kliavkoff’s role remains unchanged.

“He’s still our commissioner, and there have been no discussions with him besides him intending to still serve,’’ said Washington State president Kirk Schulz, chair of the Pac-12 Board of Directors.

“In my conversations with how to move ahead, George has been exemplary in terms of making sure the four remaining schools have options ... He’s still making the day-to-day decisions for the conference office and preparing us for the fall. We still have a (competition year) to produce.”

However, numerous discussions about the future of the conference have taken place without Kliavkoff’s involvement, according to a source. While the conference technically does still serve as members — that is for the current academic year — Arizona, ASU, Colorado, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, USC Utah and Washington, it’s the presidents and athletic directors of the four remaining schools (Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State) who remain in frequent communication.

Schulz declined to say whether Kliavkoff would lead any media rights negotiations if the quartet decided to rebuild the conference.

“We haven’t gotten that far,” he told the Hotline on Friday. “There could be lots of options with how we handle the media piece. But why bother with that stuff until we know more?”

(Kliavkoff was hired in the spring of 2021. His contract has not been publicly disclosed but is believed to cover five years at approximately $3.5 million annually.)

Everything is on hold until Stanford and Cal decide their course of action. The schools are attempting to gain invitations to the ACC and the Big Ten. Competing as an Independent in football is also an option, at least for the Cardinal.

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The lengthy to-do list includes determining exactly who’s running the conference at the highest level.

Initially, conference executives, including Schulz, believed only the four remaining schools held voting power and control of whatever assets remain.

That conclusion has not been confirmed by the lawyers.

“We have to figure out how to operate the conference and who is empowered with the decision-making,’’ Schulz said. “It turns out that’s not as trivial as everybody thinks.”

With no major decisions in the next two weeks — everything hinges on the Bay Area schools — the Pac-12’s legal team is digging into the bylaws.

Does that mean the eight outgoing schools could be empowered to vote on critical issues, including media rights and expansion, that don’t impact their futures?

“We don’t know,’’ Schulz said. “It’s an unprecedented situation where we lose five of the nine schools. There are decisions to make on all types of things, but right now we’re in a holding pattern ...

“We thought, ‘Let’s step back and make sure who has the authority.’ We think there will be some clarity around governance issues in the next two weeks.”