51 Comments
Sep 20, 2022·edited Sep 20, 2022Liked by John Canzano

fascinating podcast with great questions!

I think the best point you brought up was that the CFP Championship expansion changes everything. That alone would cause any school to think long and hard about moving to the SEC or Big 10.

When you asked him about the 4 corners schools possibly looking at the BIG12 as a landing spot he said that he has spoken with all the Presidents and ADs from those schools and that they have said they are not considering this option. Kliavkoff said he was taking them at their word but I think he took Kevin Warren (conference 'alliance') USC and UCLA at their words too......

I thought his response to your question about the hundreds of millions of dollars apart from a media deal with ESPN was too rehearsed and his laugh seemed forced. Did anybody else have the same reaction? Or am I reading too much into it.

Again, great podcast and I agree with you that Kliavkoff comes off as very confident. He is a front-line General The fact that he traveled to Atlanta, Madison and Seattle for key games shows he is vested in the PAC 12 and he is showing solid leadership.

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Fascinating about UCLA. Curiously, living in LA, I'm seeing very little written about how UCLA fans feel. None of my friends who are UCLA alums like the idea. If UCLA can't make money at it, if the regents do impose a financial penalty, if many of their alumni are against it.... It's just odd. I'm sure keeping up with USC is included in the Bruins' motives. But FWIW, my UCLA friends say: Let USC go it alone. Don't care.

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I think Kliavkoff’s idea of expansion right now is reeling UCLA back into the fold. Seems like he is going out of his way to sow seeds of doubt about the wisdom of this move for them.

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Balancing revenues against distribution should also recognize that fans despise late night games after September, possibly excluding the Arizona schools. Night games do not increase exposure or elevate any respective brands since very few outside the west and mountain time zones watch them. Give me an Amazon or Apple+ 5PM or earlier kickoff over an ESPN2 of FS1 8PM kickoff any day.

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Sep 20, 2022·edited Sep 20, 2022

Be careful when anyone says they're 99.5% sure of anything. Also the comment about "If anybody else were going to leave for the BIG 10 they would have done so by now" is a little troubling.

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Great interview by you and Wilner, JC. I gotta say I like the guy more every time I hear him speak - and while I too would like to hear more, I get why he his playing his cards close to the vest. The intel on UCLA is fascinating because if what GK said about the finances is true, the Bruins are better off staying put. That would change the calculus, obviously, and simplifies the expansion question considerably. Add SDSU immediately and then have a think about options further to the East.

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Great job John(s)! A story idea for y'all: poke around UCAL a bit. Hardly anyone wants to go to the Big 10. Put them on the spot and have them address the fact that they won't make more money, will negatively impact student-athletes, families and fans.

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John, Please get the person who makes the decisions at UCLA. I would love to hear what their reaction is to that interview you posted today.

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Whatever gets us to have game times known further in advance and somewhat limits the overall amount of night games, at least later in the year.

Sign me up.

I’d love a massive digital partner like Apple or Amazon

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Hope Mr. K is on track

Hope the PAC “whatever” breaks new ground in all this, rather than scrambling for crumbs

GO DAWGS

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I like that he stated and reiterated he only works with that which he can control and does not waste energy on all the other. Wise man and we as fans can learn from that. He appears to be allowing processes to happen, but shows he is paying attention. And, yes. He resonated confidence. He didn't hype up or dramatize. It will be fun watching him progress through his job. Not quite as fun as watching a great football game, but...

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Did he offer any explanation for the UCLA comment? UCLA definitely has a greater shot at the playoff in the Pac-12...maybe that's where his money comment is coming from. And UCLA has certainly consigned itself to an eternity of mediocrity in the Big10.

As for expansion, I guess it's ESPN's call. But every G5 candidate out there will just water down the conference and eat a slice of the pie. I hope we don't make any panic pick ups of MWC teams.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

Regarding UCLA, the analysis seems static. For the sake of argument let's say UCLA stays primarily due to the cost of travel. What is to stop the B10 from now saying screw you (Pac-12), we will now grab Cal, Stanford, UW, UCLA, OU and USC. False sense of security pertaining to the Bruins.

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I keep wondering if there's too much emphasis being placed on "number of TV screens in the same town as the school".

I realize this is the metric used to help establish a valuation, but each market and

university is different. Just counting TV screens doesn't capture the entire picture.

Like San Diego State. They have a good number of TV screens and are in SoCal....but

how many folks in San Diego really care about SDSU football? Do we even know? That’s a pretty important detail if the valuation is based on the assumption that these people will be watching. I doubt many people in the rest of the country care about SDSU, so how well does their brand really scale?

I mean, suppose SDSU vs Houston is on at the same time as Oregon vs Oklahoma. The UO/OU home markets have far fewer local TV screens, but I bet quite a few people in San Diego and Houston would be watching the Ducks and Sooners ...and nobody outside of those cities is watching that other game.

Another thing I haven't heard much about with regards to realignment is the notion of rivalries...these are such an important part of college football. Regional rivalries give a conference cohesion. The PAC-10 had a sweet setup before adding Utah and Colorado. Each game had a history and mattered. I know SLC and Denver markets were added…but what was really gained there by adding those two?

I think rolling with the existing 10 is good plan, but if expansion is a must they should be careful not to end up with some hodge-podge of unrelated teams based solely on TV screen count.

How about this for an expansion idea:

West Division

Cal

Stanford

OSU

Oregon

WSU

Washington

East Division

ASU

Arizona

Utah

Colorado

Kansas

Kansas State

Yeah, that's right - Kansas and Kansas State.

Both have enough of a national brand so as not to de-value the conference, and they have a long historical rivalry. I think games with these teams would scale pretty well nationally. Far better than SDSU or UNLV would, IMO.

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John, nice interview. I'm wondering if the streaming broadcasts would be exclusive to the streaming company or simulcast on the Pac-12 Network, or a combo of both?

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So, he spoke. And I agree that it is good to hear from him. But he didn't say anything.

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