OT - Pac12 Hires new commissioner George Kliavkoff
Pac12 hires a new commissioner with no experience in college sports. He was most recently a sports entertainment executive for MGM Resorts. He was also a former interim CEO of Hulu, and Chief Digital Officer of NBCUniversal for a spell. Definitely a move to get more entertainment dollars, as that is where ALL of his former experience is. With NIL, and the new TV deal up for grabs soon as well as sports betting being legalized in many places across the country, it could be a good hire. However, his lack of experience (none) in dealing with colleges and the challenges that come with dealing with "student-athletes (LOL)" could present some interesting challenges.
Said when Scott announced his departure: "While Scott's background and initial vision helped the Pac-12 at times, league sources believe his successor must have stronger on-campus roots and built-in relationships in the college athletics community, an area where Scott often struggled." Kyle Bonagura, ESPN.
This sounds like a similar hire. Pac 12 Network has approx 15 million subscribers, compared to 50 million for the SEC & Big Ten Networks. Conference payouts most recently were $32M for the Pac12, $45M for the SEC and $55M for the B1G. One of the big mistakes Larry Scott made was signing an extremely long media rights deal with has them locked into a lower dollar amount than other leagues who have cashed in multiple times since. The B1G is negotiating their deal in 2024 and some speculate that media rights deals have maxed out already, in part due to cord-cutting (and now COVID) while others say that live sports is the most valuable thing on TV right now. However of the top 100 watched tv programs of 2020, almost 80 were NFL games, only 1 college football game, Clemson-LSU 2020 National Title game.
CBS lost the SEC to ESPN in 2023 already and both the B1G & Pac are up in 2024, as well as Nascar, NCAA (nonCFP/March Madness) and CFP exclusivity with ESPN. In 2022, all NFL media deals expire. So the Pac may be in another bad spots if all the cash is given out by 2024.
https://tvrev.com/sports-media-rights-current-tv-deals-and-whats-on-the-horizon/
Dave Brandon says hi.
that was the first thing I thought of as well.
Keep in mind, the Pac-12 floated the idea of selling some of their media rights to a private equity firm only a couple years ago.
Jim says I was available.
Jim Delany = Dilbert's boss.
I wish I had more points to give you for that comment.
This will never be not funny.
Was just about to say the same thing- it’ll never, ever get old.
this ages like fine wine
Maybe he can help them package sports in a more fan-friendly way? I dunno how you do that, but the PAC-12 needs to figure out something. I mean, 'PAC-12 After Dark' was a great idea, and often has some great games, but it's not a feasible business plan to compete with the B1G and SEC. Also, I don't think he can run college sports like it's Hulu. But it might be fun to watch him try!!
(Will cheerleaders start showing up to games in red capes?)
Honestly, if you're running the Big 10 or the SEC over the last 20 years or so, it's almost impossible to not cause a money cannon to fire billions of dollars at your league. Those two leagues have the most sports-rabid fanbases who have disposable income in the sport, and you'd have to be a dummy not to be wash with cash.
I think if you're objective about all this, the best commissioner of a college sports league over the last 40 years is unquestionably John Swofford from the ACC. When he got that job he inherited a league was mostly a college basketball league with only 2-3 programs in the whole 9 team league that genuinely cared about football. Many of the programs in his league have difficulty raising money from alumni.
The ACC he leaves is now a stable, 14 team league with a comfortable TV deal with ESPN and no signs of any turmoil, and he's done this with all the same cultural/on field issues the Pac 12 has. What was John Swofford before be became the commissioner who saved the ACC? An athletic director for UNC.
It may not be true today since almost every AD now is from a pipeline of corporate mediocrities pumped up by search firms, but if you need a commissioner of your league, you should probably hire someone whose foremost skill is getting colleges to agree to do things.
It also helps when ESPN has a hard on for your conference.
Title does not say it all
This is the conference that actually *hired* Larry Scott... did anyone expect them to make a better decision this time?
Great analysis, OP!
I wonder how much their two flagship programs, USC football and UCLA Men’s Basketball (yes I know) going through long periods of mediocrity has effected the conference as a whole. Could be not at all but the thought struck me and I wonder what other, smarter, people think
Show me the money.