ACC comes to the rescue of Pac-12 with a new proposal for creative scheduling and reopening the TV contract ambitions

On Friday night, the Pac-12 was reduced to the Pac-4 with the mass departure of Arizona, Utah, and Arizona State.

The end of the conference has been much heralded during the realignment wars, but could the ACC have a solution for the stricken conference?

When the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans announced their departure from the Big Ten last year, no one foresaw that as the first domino in the ending of an established Power Five conference.

In reality, the Pac-12's issues compounded commissioner George Kliavkoff's dithering on a potential media deal.

The solution could come from the ACC. The conference has a grant of rights agreement that was rewritten following the renewal of its 20-year media rights deal in 2016.

This has bound the programs to a TV deal that lags far behind leading conferences. Teams aren't happy about this state of affairs.

A merger between the ACC and Pac-12 could force a renegotiation of the TV deal and revitalize both conferences.

Outkick's Greg Swaim reported on the media deal negotiated by Kliavkoff.

"BREAKING: Current best #Pac12 media deal is over $12M less than the #Big12, and there will be only 20% linear TV coverage, meaning only one P12 game a week on linear TV, and it will have a LOT of competition for viewers. And Klavkoff thought this was 'The Summer of George'!!"

What next for the Pac-12?

The only remaining programs in the Pacific-12 are the California Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal, Washington State Cougars, and Oregon State Beavers. The conference's TV deal expires next year, and without heavy recruitment, there won't be a new one.

Kliavkoff floated to the programs a streaming deal with Apple TV+ that wouldn't be as lucrative as a traditional one.

Considering the fact that before it all fell apart, Kliavkoff was looking at an expansion, a merger with the ACC might segue nicely with the conference's plans.

"First, we will conclude our media rights deals, then our schools will sign our Grant of Rights, which has already been negotiated, and only then will we decide on potential expansion," Kliavkoff said.

Spencer McLaughlin of the 'Locked On Pac-12' show suggested that the only viable means for the ACC and Pac-12 to survive is to brook an alliance that would make them more attractive.

"I'm not saying it's going to allow you to catch the Big Ten and the SEC, but when you have a Pac-12 team playing an ACC team, you're going to put that in a primetime window. You have a national audience paying attention to the game."

There has been a suggestion that Kliavkoff is looking at the Mountain West Conference as a potential merging partner. Speculation is that he met with conference commissioner Gloria Nevarez to discuss that option.

Whichever way the Pac-4 saga shakes out, the only solution for embattled commissioner George Kliavkoff is to merge or perish.