Just days after Colorado announced their departure for the Big 12, George Kliavkoff reportedly has a deal to present.
Just 10 days ago, the Pac-12’s media day came and went without a presentation of figures for the conferences new media deal. A week later, the Colorado Buffaloes were on the move back to their former home, the Big 12. Now, with more chatter surrounding the Arizona Wildcats and the potential they join Colorado, we (apparently) have a deal to vote on. Multiple outlets are reporting conference commissioner George Kliavkoff will meet with the conference presidents tomorrow and they should know the details “in the next 48 hours”.
If things seem a little tenuous, well, they should. Colorado’s president telegraphed leaving the conference just 12 days ago, saying he expected media figures while in Vegas but he clearly didn’t get them. The conference has ostensibly been working on this deal for over a year now and though things are made more complex by wholly owning the Pac-12 Networks, a 13-month cycle is entirely too long. Granted, trying to negotiate this deal at a time of much economic upheaval, did them absolutely no favors but it has been a very long, long runway to get this completed.
To make matters worse, the conference’s decision of radio silence, it would appear even to their own presidents, has been deafeningly loud compared to the Big 12 (and their surrogates) bombardment which, in part, likely allowed them to peel off Colorado. The only real remarks Kliavkoff has had since July of 2022 came this month, when he rather audaciously claimed things are only going to get better the longer we wait. Up to this point, the conference has handled this about as poorly as possible; it may have cost them one defection and even potentially an addition.
It looks likely though that the rubber finally meets whatever road the conference has paved this week. We’ll find out if the deal, with whatever mix of streaming and linear they’re able to cobble together, is good enough to keep the remaining nine teams together.