UCLA and USC will get around 30 million more dollars per year each from the Big 10 than the Pac-10 is getting if the latter ever gets a decent tv deal. I have been back east many times and the Bruins and Trojans are smart to take the extra millions. Pac-10 is sinking fast behind the big boys in football.
It’s going to be way more than $30 million within a few years. More like $60 million. No brainer decision. All these bitter, butthurt Pac-12 people just can’t stand it.
Just know UCLA had to take the money because they are $100 million in debt, the most stupid, badly managed athletic department in the country. I have no doubt they will be right back there again in 5 years or so. UCLA football wise is even with the several weak, lousy teams in the Big 10. Nobody in LA even knows UCLA has a team, or cares. USC has won all of two titles in the last 11 years. I am sure they will all enjoy being in a "conference" where they play all of half the teams in the conference.
Hahaha. What exactly would they want to leak? Low ball offers from the network? Laughter at the other end of the line while back channeling interest from ND? Or Colorado to the Big12? (Legit rumor) This conference is quickly becoming a joke. I won’t be surprised if the Hallmark Channel and BET may become viable network partners. George K is a lame duck exec on a sinking ship. John you are a great writer and I don’t doubt you have a cache of very well positioned sources but the “trust me bro we will get a good media deal” vibes the conference sources have been sending you are going to turn out underwhelming
The optimist in me says Kliavakoff is sly as a silver fox. He's in control by not responding to the 'uninformed'. I have no way of knowing but if SMU's public and passionate desire to join the PAC 12 is any indication, the ship is not sinking in fact many want to board!
You've drumbeat into our heads over these past months a couple of key principles and that is current member unity & the importance of media market size for new members.
I'm not worried. King Kliavakoff is court side and many important people are requesting an audience.
Chip couldn’t have put it better. John pounding into everybody’s heads here how the Pac-12 will get more $ than the Big-12, per his sources. Pac-12 is unified. Pac-12 is expanding. We’ll find out how good John’s sources are, and if he’s worth his salt as a reporter. Some very respected journalists are officially public as of today with their sources saying Pac-12 teams are talking to the Big 12 conference. We’ll definitely know soon enough who was right, and who was wrong.
There's enough smoke at this point to see that the Pac12 is on fire. Universities can deny it and claim false alarm all they want, but as someone whos seen this happen in the Big12, it's no good for small Pac12 teams. Don't think the big teams will save you based on "geography" or "our great rivalry!". My guess is John is hoping against hope knowing that OSU will end up playing in a revamped MWC next year.
Agreed, we would all like to have more info and its not that we should be completely without worry, but I truly believe that people have no idea how complicated this whole mess is. How many moving parts there are and how compressed the time table is they are ascribing to these actions. When multiple parties have BILLIONS on the line, you can bet your ass no one is going to be jumping into anything quickly, and every i will be dotted and t crossed before any official plan is announced.
HUZZAH!!!! Chip is spot on with his assessment! We're all just a bunch of nervous nellies, and we can't stand the silence. George is king -- this is the way!
I can only immerse myself into OSU baseball to pass the time!! GO BEAVS!!
He may be a King but I see no reason why the conference needs an 'assistant King?'
What does the man do all the live long day that he needs an assistant for which the conference, the individual member institutions, pays?
I want to be wrong but I see a lot of Larry around this guy. East coast. No direct college sports experience. Clueless when back-stabbed by Kevin Warren and the B1G.
We also have yet to see the commissioner and CEO’s execute any deals one would call a “win”. Getting a good deal here requires leaving the ivory towers and getting your hands dirty. I’m not sure if the presidents and chancellors find the business side of their job above them or if they just don’t have the skill sets necessary.
As you noted, we’re going to have a report card on them and George soon enough.
Big12 said the same thing about Bob Bowlsby and then Mizzou, A&M, Nebraska and Colorado left. Best to not be naive before you don't have a conference left. Sounds like that's about to happen.
Right up until he announces the media deal. If it’s good he is fine. If it’s bad, no more salary and smiles. I would be in my Winston Churchill bunker right now working on the war plans. Not at the tournament smiling.
I'd like to see Larry Scott held accountable for helping ruin the Pac-10. The tv deal he negotiated as one of the first done by any league, turned out to be horrible. UCLA and USC are slated to get around 30 million dollars more each per year than any Pac-10 school. They are smart to jump off the sinking ship aka the Pac-12. Football pays for all the other sports via tv revenue. The live gate and selling hot dogs do not contribute that much, especially if a school has a small stadium like Reser. The SEC and Big 10 are miles ahead in football of the conference big Bill still calls the conference of champions.
It might take the Pac-12 teams around five years, if they are lucky, the compete in the final four. Only 2 schools, Oregon and Washington, have made it so far. The expanded college play-off is still over a year away. The rich get richer and the poor sink farther behind. Oregon has some of the best athletic facilities of any school, but their stadium is much smaller than the .big boys like Alabama and Georgia. Athletes can now be paid for college sports. Thanks again Mr. Scott. Hope you have the courage to show up at a football game in the future. You can use body guards if you are afraid, using some of the dollars you made as you ran the league.
Larry was certainly destructive and incompetent but who hired him, gave him no direction and too much authority and never held him accountable? Any half competent board would have fired him well before the presidents and chancellors did. At the end of the day the buck stops and starts with the board.
The football playoff goes to 12 teams in 2024. 6 highest ranked conference champs are in the field and 6 AL. In 2023, Utah would have been a top 4 seed and drawn a 1st round bye.
I think the Pac-10/? champ (if there is a Pacific Conference) is in the field in 2024. I also expect the PO to go to 16 teams in 2026 when ESPN's exclusive PO broadcast deal ends.
USC/UCLA to make the field will have to likely beat out Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, an improved Wisconsin and a likely to improve under Coach Ruhle, Nebraska.
USC and UCLA have never been to the CFB PO. What makes you think they'll get there now?
SC/UCLA are in the B1G not due to their on field/on court success but due to the fact they are too big to fail based upon their respective location in LA.
SC/UCLA are the most successful athletic programs in history. They bring eyeballs even when they suck. Schools like Oregon rely on some sugar daddy to give them flashy uniforms. Before Phil Knight, Oregon was a joke. They were so smalltime that they were expelled from the Pac-12 for a decade along with Oregon St and Washington St. Without those flashy uniforms and funding from their sugar daddy, Oregon is a borderline mid-major.
Logic would suggest that the reason for no report from Kliavkoff for this lengthy period is because he has no good news to report; no progress, no possibilities. He's still thrashing around trying to put something decent together while assuring the schools it's coming. Just hang together and be patient. Logic also suggests that more experienced league leaders have scooped up the good stuff while the PAC dithered.
Sound logic, Larry R. I'm not even sure it's good or bad news he's withholding--might be NO news. Who's going to give him a hard number bid based on a "maybe we'll add this guy" picture?!? He's probably a very smart guy, but logic also tells me he's got himself in a terrible jam here. I wish him well...don't want to see the PAC disappear.
Hopefully this is a signal that UNLV is being seriously considered for an expansion target. Not because of the team/school/market they are now, but because of what all those areas will look like for them after they've had 5+ years in a P5 league. Long term UNLV is a decent decision.
So let's add SDSU, SMU, UNLV, and ???? not sure who else would fit with these other hypothetical partners. Based on John's recent interview this past week, geography, academics, and cultural fit are key factors. So there we have it.....
UNLV holds an NCAA CBB Tournament title. I was fortunate to be there to watch UNLV destroy Duke the last time the semi-final and championship games were played in a real basketball stadium; McNichols Arena in Denver.
Duke and Bobby Hurley got revenge a year later.
Fresno? As much of a defensive move to keep the B12 out of the Pacific time zone. Tulane? UTSA?
It seems grumblings suggest Fresno, BSU, and Rice are all out of the equation. Not a whole lot of love being sent their way from what we can tell. So let's take them out of the discussion, for argument's sake, and narrow down who else would fit with these other possible additions. Geography, academics, and culture (and of course media market and households, etc.)
I'm okay with the silent treatment. People don't understand at it's core why it's taking as long as it is, and anything that they share that does not come to be, will only hurt them.
Get it done the best way possible. We will all move on from there.
John, this is a curious one. Decades of public affairs and crisis mgmt experience—lots of it in higher Ed—taught me to NEVER let others control a narrative. Its reasonable to wonder why that’s what Klavikoff has been doing.
However: every axiom has exceptions. And this may be one of those exceptional scenarios that demands different tactics. When the BIG10 ransacked USC and UCLA, it (obviously) put the conference on unstable, defensive footing. We may never know if, or how close, UO and UW came to splitting.
But given the deck Klavikoff has been handed, I’m unsure there’s been anything he COULD say while managing negotiations and keeping all of his constituents calm and at the table. (Forgive the mixed metaphors.)
Controlling your narrative requires that you have one to articulate. To this point, all he likely could offer is aspirational babble. Better, perhaps, to keep his cards and his story very tight to his chest while focusing on communicating *internally*. The absence of leaks suggests to me that he’s done exactly that, and done it well.
Recent months have had leaks and surrogates from within the conference making public remarks. It's either a change in strategy or some folks are going rouge. Perhaps they are getting impatient and attempting to fill the void of communications. I'd expect more voices to speak out as the weeks drag on. The university PR/Comms teams can't be happy with what they're seeing.
In my experience, campus communications shops have limited oversight over messaging coming out of athletics depts—especially at the Power 5 level. (AD’s like to run their own shops; most presidents support that model.)
I get your point, but there are leaks and then there are LEAKS. I haven’t seen the latter—the stuff that undermines leadership. Maybe I’ve missed it.
I agree with you there, can anyone point to one REAL leak? one with any sort of real backing or from someone who really does know something and isn't just either a BIG mouth piece stirring up shit or someone looking for clicks saying the world is in fire? I cant think of a single one I have seen.
It seems to me this is the perfect time to introduce the "Ivy League Left Coast" Model, and recognize the Pac10 as the elite academic group they are (oh, that's right, AS, ASU, UT, CO - oh well, maybe the Big 12 is a better fit for them). So we have Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Stanford. Looks good to me. UCLA and USC might even crawl back eventually, it could happen. Now you wait a minute, this isn't any crazier than all this other s*** that's flying around here, wouldn't you agree? Affectionately, Charlie
Good stuff John! I’m fairly confident that you have to be burnt out on this topic by now!! I would be! I have always been a big believer in what drives enrollment... In my mind, is winning. More specifically football and to a lesser degree basketball. Call it the “Flutie effect” where applications went up 18.6 percent when a college program went from eh... to yeah! University President’s have to change their thinking. Like minds on education, inclusivity, blah, blah, are great and all the front running theory of comradely....but. The cocktail is education. But the straw that stirs the cocktail (education, educational facilities, professor salary’s, etc.... ) is enrollment by way of athletic’s. Now more than ever, money and thus media deals make or break universities. It’s dog eat dog and getting either a really good deal happens for the pac or it implodes, if not now, later for sure. Truth, we have to have the money to buy players to win going forward. Getting into the playoffs is wonderful, but is that the windfall of money equal to the normal take/cut the lowest performing members of the SEC and Big10 get annually. No. And once we get in the playoffs, how long will folks be thrilled with their programs being the number one seed out of their league but being beaten badly in the first round year after year? Hope spring is eternal, until it’s not. Adapt. Or die is the future.
These are the actions, by Kliavkoff and the university ADs, of arrogant and isolated people. The Pac12 universities are almost all public (except for Stanford now that USC has flown the coop). The ADs and university Presidents forget who they serve, the public. If it is extrapolated a bit, this is the underlying story of the decay of the entire American university system and its lack of concern for the role it plays in our society, higher education and perhaps sports entertainment.
"Thompson said earlier this week, “Give the Pac-12 credit; there haven’t been any leaks. They’ve kept things very tight.”
Uh, if there is little interest and no progress, there is nothing to leak.
Disney (ESPN) is cutting back on programming. Amazon announced today they are shelving their East Coast headquarters due to reduced revenue. If ESPN and Prime are not players, or want the Pac-12 on the cheap, then any potential "leaks" would be dismal.
Hey UCLA and USC. 25 degrees this morning in Minneapolis for the women's Big 10 tournament. Layer up!
they play basketball indoors in case you did not know.
I like playing golf outdoors.
I like it indoors better
Ha! It's getting to arena let alone landing at MSP in a blizzard. You have no idea when March enters a lion!
UCLA and USC will get around 30 million more dollars per year each from the Big 10 than the Pac-10 is getting if the latter ever gets a decent tv deal. I have been back east many times and the Bruins and Trojans are smart to take the extra millions. Pac-10 is sinking fast behind the big boys in football.
.
It’s going to be way more than $30 million within a few years. More like $60 million. No brainer decision. All these bitter, butthurt Pac-12 people just can’t stand it.
When it's all about money. Sports and college history is for sale... then it dies. If anyone sounds angry in this conversation... that would be you. 😎
Just know UCLA had to take the money because they are $100 million in debt, the most stupid, badly managed athletic department in the country. I have no doubt they will be right back there again in 5 years or so. UCLA football wise is even with the several weak, lousy teams in the Big 10. Nobody in LA even knows UCLA has a team, or cares. USC has won all of two titles in the last 11 years. I am sure they will all enjoy being in a "conference" where they play all of half the teams in the conference.
You seem like a miserable and bitter person. It must suck to be you.
That's awesome. Hope it works out for you.
PMW ppl with weather smack is great. Pot meet kettle. Was just in Oregon a week ago: MISERABLE
Oregon and Minnesota not so good in March. Take me to Vegas!
Lol. Down right balmy.....
They'll just burn $30M to keep warm.
“No leaks”
Hahaha. What exactly would they want to leak? Low ball offers from the network? Laughter at the other end of the line while back channeling interest from ND? Or Colorado to the Big12? (Legit rumor) This conference is quickly becoming a joke. I won’t be surprised if the Hallmark Channel and BET may become viable network partners. George K is a lame duck exec on a sinking ship. John you are a great writer and I don’t doubt you have a cache of very well positioned sources but the “trust me bro we will get a good media deal” vibes the conference sources have been sending you are going to turn out underwhelming
When Mike Bellotti says he's worried and thinking the Pac can't get a deal big enough,
the corners are jumping, if/when that happens only then will the B1G come in for Ore / WashThat concerns me I think Mike knows more than we do
The optimist in me says Kliavakoff is sly as a silver fox. He's in control by not responding to the 'uninformed'. I have no way of knowing but if SMU's public and passionate desire to join the PAC 12 is any indication, the ship is not sinking in fact many want to board!
You've drumbeat into our heads over these past months a couple of key principles and that is current member unity & the importance of media market size for new members.
I'm not worried. King Kliavakoff is court side and many important people are requesting an audience.
Chip couldn’t have put it better. John pounding into everybody’s heads here how the Pac-12 will get more $ than the Big-12, per his sources. Pac-12 is unified. Pac-12 is expanding. We’ll find out how good John’s sources are, and if he’s worth his salt as a reporter. Some very respected journalists are officially public as of today with their sources saying Pac-12 teams are talking to the Big 12 conference. We’ll definitely know soon enough who was right, and who was wrong.
His sources were crap or he was outright pumping the party line to boost the number. "Journalism".
There's enough smoke at this point to see that the Pac12 is on fire. Universities can deny it and claim false alarm all they want, but as someone whos seen this happen in the Big12, it's no good for small Pac12 teams. Don't think the big teams will save you based on "geography" or "our great rivalry!". My guess is John is hoping against hope knowing that OSU will end up playing in a revamped MWC next year.
Agreed, we would all like to have more info and its not that we should be completely without worry, but I truly believe that people have no idea how complicated this whole mess is. How many moving parts there are and how compressed the time table is they are ascribing to these actions. When multiple parties have BILLIONS on the line, you can bet your ass no one is going to be jumping into anything quickly, and every i will be dotted and t crossed before any official plan is announced.
HUZZAH!!!! Chip is spot on with his assessment! We're all just a bunch of nervous nellies, and we can't stand the silence. George is king -- this is the way!
I can only immerse myself into OSU baseball to pass the time!! GO BEAVS!!
He may be a King but I see no reason why the conference needs an 'assistant King?'
What does the man do all the live long day that he needs an assistant for which the conference, the individual member institutions, pays?
I want to be wrong but I see a lot of Larry around this guy. East coast. No direct college sports experience. Clueless when back-stabbed by Kevin Warren and the B1G.
The proof will be in the media deal pudding.
We also have yet to see the commissioner and CEO’s execute any deals one would call a “win”. Getting a good deal here requires leaving the ivory towers and getting your hands dirty. I’m not sure if the presidents and chancellors find the business side of their job above them or if they just don’t have the skill sets necessary.
As you noted, we’re going to have a report card on them and George soon enough.
Big12 said the same thing about Bob Bowlsby and then Mizzou, A&M, Nebraska and Colorado left. Best to not be naive before you don't have a conference left. Sounds like that's about to happen.
He's smiling all the way to the bank.
Right up until he announces the media deal. If it’s good he is fine. If it’s bad, no more salary and smiles. I would be in my Winston Churchill bunker right now working on the war plans. Not at the tournament smiling.
I'd like to see Larry Scott held accountable for helping ruin the Pac-10. The tv deal he negotiated as one of the first done by any league, turned out to be horrible. UCLA and USC are slated to get around 30 million dollars more each per year than any Pac-10 school. They are smart to jump off the sinking ship aka the Pac-12. Football pays for all the other sports via tv revenue. The live gate and selling hot dogs do not contribute that much, especially if a school has a small stadium like Reser. The SEC and Big 10 are miles ahead in football of the conference big Bill still calls the conference of champions.
It might take the Pac-12 teams around five years, if they are lucky, the compete in the final four. Only 2 schools, Oregon and Washington, have made it so far. The expanded college play-off is still over a year away. The rich get richer and the poor sink farther behind. Oregon has some of the best athletic facilities of any school, but their stadium is much smaller than the .big boys like Alabama and Georgia. Athletes can now be paid for college sports. Thanks again Mr. Scott. Hope you have the courage to show up at a football game in the future. You can use body guards if you are afraid, using some of the dollars you made as you ran the league.
Larry was certainly destructive and incompetent but who hired him, gave him no direction and too much authority and never held him accountable? Any half competent board would have fired him well before the presidents and chancellors did. At the end of the day the buck stops and starts with the board.
The football playoff goes to 12 teams in 2024. 6 highest ranked conference champs are in the field and 6 AL. In 2023, Utah would have been a top 4 seed and drawn a 1st round bye.
I think the Pac-10/? champ (if there is a Pacific Conference) is in the field in 2024. I also expect the PO to go to 16 teams in 2026 when ESPN's exclusive PO broadcast deal ends.
USC/UCLA to make the field will have to likely beat out Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Iowa, an improved Wisconsin and a likely to improve under Coach Ruhle, Nebraska.
USC and UCLA have never been to the CFB PO. What makes you think they'll get there now?
SC/UCLA are in the B1G not due to their on field/on court success but due to the fact they are too big to fail based upon their respective location in LA.
SC/UCLA are the most successful athletic programs in history. They bring eyeballs even when they suck. Schools like Oregon rely on some sugar daddy to give them flashy uniforms. Before Phil Knight, Oregon was a joke. They were so smalltime that they were expelled from the Pac-12 for a decade along with Oregon St and Washington St. Without those flashy uniforms and funding from their sugar daddy, Oregon is a borderline mid-major.
Certainly far from a ridiculous POV.
Believe me, as a close-to-century member of the Pacific conference I wish 'you guys' were staying put.
I totally 'get' the FOX-grabbing LA deal and I hope the B1G will be all that you hope it will be.
Logic would suggest that the reason for no report from Kliavkoff for this lengthy period is because he has no good news to report; no progress, no possibilities. He's still thrashing around trying to put something decent together while assuring the schools it's coming. Just hang together and be patient. Logic also suggests that more experienced league leaders have scooped up the good stuff while the PAC dithered.
Sound logic, Larry R. I'm not even sure it's good or bad news he's withholding--might be NO news. Who's going to give him a hard number bid based on a "maybe we'll add this guy" picture?!? He's probably a very smart guy, but logic also tells me he's got himself in a terrible jam here. I wish him well...don't want to see the PAC disappear.
Like, Waiting for Godot?
Sorry Jon, didn't see this before I popped off. No plagiarism intended. Charlie
Hopefully this is a signal that UNLV is being seriously considered for an expansion target. Not because of the team/school/market they are now, but because of what all those areas will look like for them after they've had 5+ years in a P5 league. Long term UNLV is a decent decision.
So let's add SDSU, SMU, UNLV, and ???? not sure who else would fit with these other hypothetical partners. Based on John's recent interview this past week, geography, academics, and cultural fit are key factors. So there we have it.....
UNLV holds an NCAA CBB Tournament title. I was fortunate to be there to watch UNLV destroy Duke the last time the semi-final and championship games were played in a real basketball stadium; McNichols Arena in Denver.
Duke and Bobby Hurley got revenge a year later.
Fresno? As much of a defensive move to keep the B12 out of the Pacific time zone. Tulane? UTSA?
It seems grumblings suggest Fresno, BSU, and Rice are all out of the equation. Not a whole lot of love being sent their way from what we can tell. So let's take them out of the discussion, for argument's sake, and narrow down who else would fit with these other possible additions. Geography, academics, and culture (and of course media market and households, etc.)
I'm okay with the silent treatment. People don't understand at it's core why it's taking as long as it is, and anything that they share that does not come to be, will only hurt them.
Get it done the best way possible. We will all move on from there.
John, this is a curious one. Decades of public affairs and crisis mgmt experience—lots of it in higher Ed—taught me to NEVER let others control a narrative. Its reasonable to wonder why that’s what Klavikoff has been doing.
However: every axiom has exceptions. And this may be one of those exceptional scenarios that demands different tactics. When the BIG10 ransacked USC and UCLA, it (obviously) put the conference on unstable, defensive footing. We may never know if, or how close, UO and UW came to splitting.
But given the deck Klavikoff has been handed, I’m unsure there’s been anything he COULD say while managing negotiations and keeping all of his constituents calm and at the table. (Forgive the mixed metaphors.)
Controlling your narrative requires that you have one to articulate. To this point, all he likely could offer is aspirational babble. Better, perhaps, to keep his cards and his story very tight to his chest while focusing on communicating *internally*. The absence of leaks suggests to me that he’s done exactly that, and done it well.
Recent months have had leaks and surrogates from within the conference making public remarks. It's either a change in strategy or some folks are going rouge. Perhaps they are getting impatient and attempting to fill the void of communications. I'd expect more voices to speak out as the weeks drag on. The university PR/Comms teams can't be happy with what they're seeing.
In my experience, campus communications shops have limited oversight over messaging coming out of athletics depts—especially at the Power 5 level. (AD’s like to run their own shops; most presidents support that model.)
I get your point, but there are leaks and then there are LEAKS. I haven’t seen the latter—the stuff that undermines leadership. Maybe I’ve missed it.
I agree with you there, can anyone point to one REAL leak? one with any sort of real backing or from someone who really does know something and isn't just either a BIG mouth piece stirring up shit or someone looking for clicks saying the world is in fire? I cant think of a single one I have seen.
I can’t. And I’ve endured “real” leaks more than once—the type that are very strategically choreographed for maximum impact. Haven’t seen that here.
Read CBS sports today. Or the Athletic.
'No news is good news'...I think that's being rewritten.
John any chatter about just hitting the next year as PAC-10 ? Any legal reason it's not allowed ?
The NCAA gave the 10-team B12 the right to hold a football champ game and would do the same for a 10-team Pac-12.
It seems to me this is the perfect time to introduce the "Ivy League Left Coast" Model, and recognize the Pac10 as the elite academic group they are (oh, that's right, AS, ASU, UT, CO - oh well, maybe the Big 12 is a better fit for them). So we have Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Stanford. Looks good to me. UCLA and USC might even crawl back eventually, it could happen. Now you wait a minute, this isn't any crazier than all this other s*** that's flying around here, wouldn't you agree? Affectionately, Charlie
Good stuff John! I’m fairly confident that you have to be burnt out on this topic by now!! I would be! I have always been a big believer in what drives enrollment... In my mind, is winning. More specifically football and to a lesser degree basketball. Call it the “Flutie effect” where applications went up 18.6 percent when a college program went from eh... to yeah! University President’s have to change their thinking. Like minds on education, inclusivity, blah, blah, are great and all the front running theory of comradely....but. The cocktail is education. But the straw that stirs the cocktail (education, educational facilities, professor salary’s, etc.... ) is enrollment by way of athletic’s. Now more than ever, money and thus media deals make or break universities. It’s dog eat dog and getting either a really good deal happens for the pac or it implodes, if not now, later for sure. Truth, we have to have the money to buy players to win going forward. Getting into the playoffs is wonderful, but is that the windfall of money equal to the normal take/cut the lowest performing members of the SEC and Big10 get annually. No. And once we get in the playoffs, how long will folks be thrilled with their programs being the number one seed out of their league but being beaten badly in the first round year after year? Hope spring is eternal, until it’s not. Adapt. Or die is the future.
These are the actions, by Kliavkoff and the university ADs, of arrogant and isolated people. The Pac12 universities are almost all public (except for Stanford now that USC has flown the coop). The ADs and university Presidents forget who they serve, the public. If it is extrapolated a bit, this is the underlying story of the decay of the entire American university system and its lack of concern for the role it plays in our society, higher education and perhaps sports entertainment.
"Thompson said earlier this week, “Give the Pac-12 credit; there haven’t been any leaks. They’ve kept things very tight.”
Uh, if there is little interest and no progress, there is nothing to leak.
Disney (ESPN) is cutting back on programming. Amazon announced today they are shelving their East Coast headquarters due to reduced revenue. If ESPN and Prime are not players, or want the Pac-12 on the cheap, then any potential "leaks" would be dismal.