LOS ANGELES – Pac-12 Commissioner George Kurifkov found himself in one of the most enviable jobs in sports on Friday. He was asked by Pac-12 to attend a conference where he faces the most important moment in his 107-year history, on the day he was in the media.
Kryavkov tried hard to focus his remarks on league and college-related goals, but he couldn’t hide his frustration. He lashed out at his first question about his playoff access to college football in the post-USC world and refused to answer others about USC’s secession conspiracies. But he saved most of his anger for other war conferences where media rights negotiations were imminent.
“I’m grateful that the Big 12 is open. I haven’t decided if I’ll go shopping there yet,” Kryavkov said. comment New Big 12 Commissioner Brett Jormak drew laughter from a contingent of reporters at his first Media Days event.
Pac-12 and Big 12 have been at war since June when USC and UCLA announced a shocking decision to leave Pac-12 and move to Big Ten by 2024. In less than a week, Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports The Big 12 reported targeting up to six Pac-12 schools as expansion targets, mostly in Arizona, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah.
Kliavkoff’s Pac-12 immediately launched an attack. The conference is “actively looking for expansion opportunities,” said Kryavkov, who kept the Big 12 alive after Texas and Oklahoma announced plans to move to his SEC a year earlier. shows the same strategy as But expansion wars are turning into a game of existential risk with tens of millions of TV dollars at stake.
“That remark reflected the fact that they had spent four weeks defending against grenades thrown from every corner of the Big 12 in an attempt to destabilize the rest of the conference.” It makes sense when you look at the relative media value of the two conferences, and you can see why they’re scared and why they’re trying to destabilize us. I was sick of it..”
Pac-12 is in the middle of a 30-day negotiating window with ESPN and Fox that ends on August 4th. In addition to linear networks, Pac-12 is looking at streaming platforms and other digital services to potentially add value. of the league’s media rights agreement.
However, Pac-12 doesn’t expect to reach a TV deal of any kind until the Big Ten finalize deals in the coming weeks. Still, it can take months to sign a contract.hanging in the meeting potential overture Big Ten to four other Pac-12 schools (Cal, Oregon, Stanford, Washington).
The Pac-12 TV deal expires in 2024, and the league plans to create new TV properties and deep dive into expansion to maximize payouts. However, with the Blue Blood brand heading east and many scenarios hanging over the rest of the league, it’s unclear what level of earnings the league can expect.
In any case, Kliavkoff said he was optimistic about the future of the conference.
“We have had board meetings twice a week for the past four weeks.” and to ensure success.
“They are enthusiastic about meetings. I think the best thing to do is ask them about it.”
