The continuing threat to the Pac-12 is primarily the Big 12, despite Kliavkoff’s dismissals (“The truth is we have bigger fish to fry,” he said last week in Las Vegas at football media day.)īrett Yormark has outmaneuvered Kilavkoff since being named Big 12 commissioner a day before USC and UCLA announced they planned to switch conferences. We have a lot of work to do there,” new Commissioner Tony Petitti said at Big Ten football media days earlier this week. “All the direction I’m getting from leadership. But Warren is gone now and his replacement said the Big Ten isn’t eager to expand more. Under previous Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren, the Big Ten still had eyes out west, with Oregon and Washington having the most appeal of the remaining Pac-12 schools. I don’t see the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC doing anything at this point.”
“A lot of that comes down to how fast the Big 12 wants to expand. “I don’t believe it does” said former Fox Sports executive Bob Thompson.
The questions now: Can the Pac-12 stop bleeding membership? And if not, does it trigger conferences beyond the Big 12 to target its schools? Will CU’s move trigger another wide-ranging round of realignment?
