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George Kliavkoff strongly reiterates no Pac-12 schools will leave for Big 12
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Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff reiterated on Tuesday what he said way back in July at the conference’s media days — that no Pac-12 schools will be leaving the conference for the Big 12.
George Kliavkoff reiterates his guarantee to CBSSports. in July https://t.co/ur11IPjvmH that no Pac-12 schools will leave for the Big 12. Says all 10 will sign a grant of rights if the right deal is put before them. — Canzano/Wilner podcast.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) September 20, 2022
Kliavkoff said all 10 schools will sign a grant of rights if the proper deal is placed before them.
He is trying to save his conference on two fronts, from the possible advances from the Big Ten and the Big 12, which has made inquiries with Pac-12 schools.
Meanwhile, the Pac-12 is continuing to explore its own expansion.
“I’ve been spending four weeks trying to defend grenades from every corner of the Big 12,” he said during the media day kickoff in late July. “I get why they’re scared. I get why they’re trying to destabilize us. I was tired of that.”
League coaches at media day were already calling the conference the Pac-10, with the announcement of the defections of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten on June 30.
That day, when he got word of the defections of the 2 Los Angeles schools, Kliavkoff was 1 day short of the anniversary of his hiring and the start of name, image and likeness rights for athletes.
That day also signaled the end of the Pac-12 as we’ve always known it. The league will likely survive but only in an altered form.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
