As Expansion Rumors Swirl, Pac-12 Board Releases ‘United’ Statement

It comes as the league’s new TV deal nears and as the Big 12 eyes multiple of its programs in its own efforts to expand.

The Pac-12 expects to strike a new media rights deal in the “very near future” and remains “united” to one another, the presidents of the 10 remaining members announced in a joint statement on Monday.

The statement, clearly meant to show strength at an unstable time, comes as the conference’s television deal and league makeup hangs in doubt. The Pac-12, already losing UCLA and USC to the Big Ten starting in 2024, is entering its fifth month of negotiations for a new TV deal without a resolution, and its members continue to be a target of an aggressive Big 12 conference that is seriously exploring expansion.

“The 10 Pac-12 universities look forward to consummating successful media rights deal(s) in the very near future,” the statement says. “Based upon positive conversations with multiple potential media rights partners over the past weeks, we remain highly confident in our future growth and success as a conference and united in our commitment to one another.”

The Pac-12 is still awaiting its new media rights deal :: Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports

The statement arrives just days after Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff visited the campus of SMU, one of the league’s expansion targets. Kliavkoff, attempting to shroud his appearance by wearing a baseball hat, attended the SMU-Temple men’s basketball game last Wednesday, seated in a suite alongside school president Gerald Turner and athletic director Rick Hart. 

Though it hasn’t publicly acknowledged it, the Pac-12 is believed to be courting both SMU and San Diego State as part of a potential two-team expansion connected to negotiations over the new TV contract. 

However, the league finds itself in a precarious position. Among the Power 5 leagues, the Pac-12 is last to the market for a new television contract after its neighboring league, the Big 12, agreed to a deal in the fall with ESPN and Fox. Broadcasting partners pay out millions of dollars each year to conferences to hold their rights, representing the single largest revenue-generating item for college athletic conferences. 

New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark continues to court several Pac-12 programs to join his conference. Yormark helped strike a deal last week that will see Texas and Oklahoma pay a combined $100 million to leave his league in 2024 and begin play in the SEC—a move that is expected to spur more Big 12 expansion.

The Big 12 wants to grow and is believed to be targeting schools in the Pac-12 South as well as Pac-12 targets such as San Diego State and Gonzaga.