PAC 12 commissioner talks about enlargement

PAC 12 commissioner talks about enlargement

If  George Kliavkoff assumed his first couple of months on the career as new PAC 12 commissioner were heading to manage him the chance to ease into his new position, he was sorely mistaken.  Kilavkoff, like absolutely everyone else in the higher education athletics world, has experienced to regulate on the fly to the information that Texas and Oklahoma will be signing up for the SEC and on Tuesday, the leader of the conference Texas Tech supporters are hopeful to join spoke to the media at PAC 12 media working day.

We all know that this determination is going to be about dollars and no matter if it will make financial feeling for the PAC 12 to develop.  Primarily, that conference has to be certain by its tv and media partners that introducing teams would enhance the conference’s worth adequate that the league’s media legal rights deal would be renegotiated and elevated.  If which is not likely to be the situation, there’s no reason for the PAC 12 to increase four a lot more teams consequently cutting down the once-a-year share that each and every school in the league receives.  But on Tuesday, Kliavkoff spoke as if he thinks there’s added price to be had in the PAC 12 media legal rights offer.

In accordance to Dennis Dodd of CBS, Kliavkoff claimed, “we consider our media legal rights will be even extra important if there is further FBS consolidation.”

When that assertion is understandably vague, 1 could interpret it as indicating that Kliavkoff believes that the much less conferences there are to break up the college soccer income pie, the additional his conference would stand to achieve.  And how does more of that pie go to the PAC 12?  By the dissolution of another main convention.  As a result, could possibly it be in the PAC 12’s very best interest to enable facilitate the finish of the Significant 12 by inviting some of the remaining 8 faculties to head west?

An additional interesting remark that Kliavkoff designed concerned geography, which could engage in into Tech’s favor in this prospective conference shuffling. In essence, Kliavkoff touted the reality that his convention is the only major meeting with educational institutions in the Pacific and Mountain time zones.

Though that fact by itself doesn’t signify significantly to Texas Tech and its potential, we can glean from this remark that Kliavkoff is targeted on geography as it pertains to his league.  Why?  Because that issues to television networks.

In essence, it would behoove the PAC 12, or any other meeting, to have a footprint in as lots of key markets and as many timezones as is fairly probable.  And with the Pacific and Mountain time zones already locked up, could Kliavkoff be interested in invading the Central time zone?  If so, the just one present-day Electric power 5 convention workforce that would bring the most to the table is Texas Tech provided the university’s massive alumni existence in Dallas-Fort Value as effectively as sturdy alumni bases in San Antonio and Houston.

But when pressed on the difficulty, Kliavkoff stated that he does not imagine there is any possibility to his conference if it decides to continue to be at 12 teams.  Of program, that’s accurately what any meeting commissioner in his place would say.  And possibly he’s appropriate.  Nonetheless, the winds of modify are blowing and Kliavkoff will not want to be the commissioner who stood idly by and did nothing at all whilst other leagues around the country manufactured aggressive moves as is envisioned in the wake of the SEC’s electricity engage in.

He then admitted that educational facilities have attained out to the PAC 12 but declined to elaborate.  Also, he declined to answer a distinct issue about regardless of whether or not Texas Tech has had discussions with the PAC 12.

But Kilavkoff did say that all selections are “on the table”, a assertion that further offers hope to colleges these types of as Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.  But for now, Texas Tech and the relaxation of the groups hoping for a lifeline from the PAC 12 are going to have to play the extended activity.

If Texas and Oklahoma experienced been performing on their move to the SEC for up to six months as has been claimed, a single would have to logically feel that any PAC 12 (or yet another conference’s) growth would consider just as lengthy, if not more time offered that the news of the past week and the maneuvering by Texas and OU has still left the rest of the university football entire world scrambling to make sense of it all.

But what we can just take absent from Kilavkoff’s remarks on Tuesday is that there is movement behind the scenes.  Ideally, that movement finishes with Texas Tech having a seat at the PAC 12 desk.

 

 

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