Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff could be on the hot seat. Under his watch, eight of the 12 conference teams have left and now there are talks of a Pac-12 and American Athletic Conference merger.
According to one Twitter user with college football insider information, there is a meeting about the Pac-4 and the American. Oliver Luck will be in attendance, but George Kliavkoff will not.
This news began to circulate, and people have been speculating about Kliavkoff's job security if he is not part of the meeting. It could be that there are multiple meetings and Luck is in charge of this one, but that feels weird that the commissioner would not be in attendance. It is also plausible that this is Luck doing his job and reporting back to Kliavkoff.
However, with how the report sounds, it does not look good for George Kliavkoff.
Is George Kliavkoff responsible for the state of the Pac-12?
While it is not entirely his fault, it would be fair to put a significant amount of blame for the Pac-12's disintegration on its current commissioner. George Kliavkoff didn't inherit an situation, but he did not help improve it at all.
He took over as the commissioner in 2021 and since then there has been no announcement of a media rights deal and two-thirds of the Pac-12 have left for a new home beginning in 2024.
It has become a point that people have been asking if the Pac-12 is dead. Kliavkoff messed up the early negotiation window for a media rights deal as ESPN reportedly offered $30 million per school even after USC and UCLA announced they were leaving. Instead of thanking them before the executives could change their minds, he asked for almost double the amount, and ESPN closed the talks.
He recently proposed a streaming deal with Apple that had no linear television, meaning the conference would be behind a paywall. That is an instant way to decrease viewership in the Conference of Champions. It is to the point it is less than 12 months from the current deal expiring and no viable options to continue.
George Kliavkoff has a lot of experience being at the top of major companies as he worked at Major League Baseball and NBCUniversal. The fact he could fumble this deal so much is incredible.
While he does not deserve all of the blame for the state of the Pac-12 and its possible extinction, Kliavkoff deserves the lion's share of it.
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