A sign of Kliavkoff’s feistiness got here when he was requested at a information convention about Brett Yormark, the newly employed Huge 12 Commissioner, who remarked not too long ago that his convention — which has tried to poach Pac-12 faculties — is “open for enterprise.”
“I respect that,” Kliavkoff mentioned. “We haven’t determined if we’re going buying there or not.”
Simply because the departures of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC set off hypothesis and panic that the remaining Huge 12 faculties needed to leap whereas that they had the possibility, the same wave was set off this summer time throughout the Pac-12. The following large domino shall be whether or not Notre Dame, which for many years has clung to its independence in soccer, goes to the Huge Ten, which then may pursue faculties like Washington and Oregon, or maybe Stanford and Cal.
Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens mentioned geography was now not the issue it was.
“Is it ultimate from an educational standpoint? No,” he mentioned. “Is it a brand new world order? Possibly.”
(U.C.L.A. Coach Chip Kelly, responding to a query from a French Canadian reporter, quipped, “We’re increasing, however we’re not going to Quebec.”)
Within the rapid aftermath of the Los Angeles faculties’ announcement, the remaining Pac-12 presidents, chancellors and athletic administrators have met at the least twice per week. The caucuses started feverishly — “individuals saying irrational issues, doing irrational issues, performing scared understandably,” Kliavkoff mentioned — however have change into extra candid and frank, he and two athletic administrators mentioned.
“Right here’s what’s necessary: We’d like sufficient cash from media rights and different offers to compete at a nationwide stage,” he mentioned, estimating that the Los Angeles faculties accounted for 25 to 30 p.c of the Pac-12’s media-rights worth. “That doesn’t imply we want Huge Ten cash. What they want is sufficient to compete at a really excessive stage.”
