Pac-12 expansion with San Diego State and SMU may need to happen prior to media rights deal

There has been a major twist in conference realignment talks

Due to the losses of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten, the Pac-12 has been rumored to be in the market to add a couple of more teams to reach that 12-team threshold again.

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff was consistently telling those who asked that the conference wanted to secure a media rights deal first, then focus on expansion once that was done. Something that late Tuesday night we learned likely isn't going to happen in that order anymore, as Brett McMurphy reported that Kliavkoff will be taking a trip to SMU on Wednesday. 

This obviously shows a change in the order of operations for the conference's expansion and media rights deal, which as explained by CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd, the Pac-12's media rights deal will lean on a digital streaming partner. The conference is expected to have more than half of the football games available via the streaming service, as part of the conference's new rights deal.

Something that Dodd explained the motivation behind saying:

The Pac-12 may need to commit to conference expansion first before achieving its compensation target in a new media rights deal, sources with knowledge of the situation tell CBS Sports. In an effort to return to 12 members following the departures of USC and UCLA, the Pac-12 has focused its efforts on evaluating San Diego State and SMU.

He later explained why it's necessary to add teams prior to the new media rights deal saying:

 it appears to be urgent for the conference to expand as a condition of completing a deal in the monetary range it seeks.

The conference expansion talks had fizzled after months of speculation, but now that Kliavkoff is actively making moves the conference may be growing sooner than expected. The belief is that the conference will not generate as much in their negotiations that they had hoped, and adding these two teams will allow for them to bring in more when it's all said and done.