Time is the Big 12’s Best Friend and the Pac-12’s Worst Enemy
It’s been almost two years since the news of Texas and Oklahoma broke about their move to the SEC. Since then, the conference has had quite a few changes. Four new schools were welcomed to the conference and the conference also has a new commissioner in Brett Yormark. It took Yormark just a few months on the job to get a media deal done for the new look Big 12 and move on.
As easy as that sounds, things are drastically different out west in Pac-12 country. It’s been almost a full year since their top schools (USC and UCLA) announced their decision to move to the Big Ten and yet, they still have no media rights deal. The days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months and we are still waiting on the Pac-12’s next move.
We can sit here all day and point fingers at who’s at fault here but in reality, we should just give Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff a mirror so he can look at himself. Here is a man who has set deadline after deadline and has continuously failed to meet them. It’s one thing to not have a deal by now but it is an entirely different issue to make yourself look like a fool in the process. The more he opens his mouth and the more the school presidents and athletic directors open their mouths, the worse the conference looks. If I had a dime for every Pac-12 deadline that wasn’t met I would have enough money to retire right now.
What we are watching out west is a complete disaster. It’s like a soap opera on TV except it has more drama and bad acting. The best way to describe what George Kliavkoff is doing is kicking a can down the road. Instead of picking it up and doing something with it, he has kicked it so far that the end of the road is near.
So, what exactly is he waiting on? Why has it taken so long? There are many reasons for it but the big ones are money and exposure. Every other Power Five conference has a media deal in place, which doesn’t leave much room for a conference like the Pac-12, especially without their two biggest money makers. I am not saying that the rest of the conference is worthless. There are some schools remaining that any conference would be lucky to have. But as a whole? They just aren’t as profitable as the other power five conferences.
The biggest issue obviously is money. Many folks have been on record saying that the Pac-12 will make more than the Big 12 and to those who say that I would say that you are a couple of cans short of a six-pack. The money that each school would potentially get will not be enough to make everyone happy. The Pac-12 has had plenty of opportunities to possibly add members but instead, their leader decided to sit on his hands and do nothing. Maybe he is waiting for other conferences to pick the Pac-12 apart so he can point the finger at someone else. Who knows, I believe that George Kliavkoff knows that the money will not be enough and is just stalling for as long as possible.
Right now, the biggest question out there is what will happen to the Pac-12. Whatever happens, it will cause a domino effect. The possibilities are as endless as the breadsticks at Olive Garden. They just keep coming no matter how sick, tired, and full you are. Go on Youtube or Google and type in college football realignment. There are thousands of people claiming that they know what is going to happen and in reality, they don’t. Nobody does. Every scenario out there has been discussed and while one of them may come true, the truth is they have no idea either, but it is fun to talk about.
Our focus here has been on the Big 12 and if you are reading this then you fall into that same category. What will the Big 12 do? There’s been talk about Colorado, Arizona, UConn, and Gonzaga, among others. But Yormark doesn’t need to call them and beg them to join the conference. As crazy as it sounds, maybe he should take a page out of George Kliavkoff’s playbook here. Yormark should do what Kliavkoff is doing and by that I mean do nothing (for now). George has taken his sweet time with this whole thing and Brett Yormark should just sit back and let the Pac-12 crumble. And when the whole thing falls apart, Brett Yormark and the Big 12 will be there to pick up the broken pieces. There are two types of waiting in this world, procrastination and being patient. I don’t think I need to tell you which conference is doing what here.
