“My preference is to disrupt and not be disrupted,” Yormark told The Athletic on July 13. “You look at the metrics, you look at the numbers, and any way you cut and slice and dice the numbers, you come to the conclusion that no Pac-12 school is going to the Big 12,” he said.Īs Yormark promised two weeks ago at his conference’s media day, the Big 12 is being as aggressive as it can in chasing the opportunity that emerged when USC and UCLA pulled off their surprise defections. ![]() Kliavkoff was more definitive in a subsequent interview with The Athletic. “It would be irresponsible from a fiduciary standpoint to just jump to the Big 12 just for the sake of jumping.” “Based on what our consultants have told us, the 10 staying together is the best option, and the only option, because we can’t control what happens in the Big Ten,” another said. “The data continues to show that staying together makes a lot of sense as we go through the media process, of which we are right in the middle. “None of (the rumors) are true,” one said. To that end, two Pac-12 ADs told The Athletic on Friday that they see no financial upside for their schools in joining the Big 12. Realignment is about Nielsen ratings, market sizes and potential TV windows. But the Pac-12 is already negotiating its next TV deal and will know its league’s valuation a year earlier than the Big 12.īoth conferences’ futures will not be determined by recent on-field accomplishments, stadium attendance or anything else the schools control. The Big 12 can tout the fact it has added three strong Group of 5 programs in Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to go with independent BYU. Neither conference is operating from a position of strength going into the next TV deals (the Pac-12’s is up in 2024, the Big 12’s in 2025) after both lost marquee television brands. Even though Yormark’s first day on the job is technically Monday, he and Big 12 leaders have been seriously pursuing expansion for the past four weeks. I get why they’re scared.”īut Yormark, a longtime sports executive the Big 12 hired from Roc Nation to succeed the retiring Bob Bowlsby, does not sound particularly frightened about his conference’s future without Oklahoma and Texas. “I understand why they’re doing it, when you look at the relative media value between the two conferences. “That remark was a reflection of the fact I’ve been spending four weeks trying to defend against grenades that have been lobbed from every corner of the Big 12, trying to destabilize our remaining conference,” Kliavkoff said later. I'm telling ya, we're watching a shot-for-shot remake of last summer. July 29, 2022: George Kliavkoff accuses the Big 12 of trying to destabilize his conference. July 28, 2021: Bob Bowlsby accuses ESPN of trying to destabilize his conference. Irked Pac-12 sources repeatedly have been debunking those rumors. ![]() The rumor mill is churning with anticipation that the Big 12 soon could lure away Pac-12 members Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado and also covets Oregon and Washington. ![]() With speculation swirling that the Big Ten might still add more Pac-12 members - talk has centered primarily on Oregon and Washington but also Stanford and Cal - a fascinating and increasingly ugly turf war has been brewing behind the scenes between the two power conferences most damaged by recent defections. “We haven’t decided if we’re going shopping there or not yet.” “With respect to the Big 12 being open for business, I appreciate that,” Kliavkoff said. But his tone changed dramatically when a reporter mentioned new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s recent comments that his league was “open for business” in realignment.
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