In his previous job as an executive with MGM Resorts, George Kliavkoff oversaw T-Mobile Arena and the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, which included staging nearly every major boxing match and UFC card in recent memory.
So, presumably, the man knows about fights.
Or he does now.
Kliavkoff and his new employer, the Pac-12 Conference, are in a scrap right now, its very existence is on the line. They are bloodied, bruised and way behind on the scorecards.
USC and UCLA, the cornerstone programs of the century-plus old league, are bailing for the Big Ten in 2024. The remaining 10 schools face a bleak future of diminished television ratings, recruiting turf and prestige coupled with a potentially even more arduous route to the college football playoff.
It’s why just about everyone is considering leaving, at least if they can. Maybe the Big Ten. Maybe the Big 12. Maybe anything, anywhere.
Meanwhile, Kliavkoff, the Pac-12 commissioner, is trying to hold it together, rallying spirits and unity in a way that multiple league sources described as “impressive” and “relentless.”
Yes, he is acknowledging, television revenue will be down and the postseason is perilous. But there are no magic wands that can change that now and panic moves are rarely good ones.
So he is trying to sell membership on staying put, on rebuilding the west, on taking their hurt at the betrayal of the L.A. schools and turning into unity.
It’s a tough sell. It’s a long sell. It may not work.
It’s worth rooting for, however.
There is an odd segment of fans and media out there, the latter most likely attached to television networks, who seem to be cheering on a consolidation of college football. Just get the top 40 or 50 teams into two or three super conferences and have them play each other. It’ll be more big brand games producing more big television numbers. Or something like that.
Perhaps for the casual fan who just wants the NFL-lite on Saturday night this is appealing. Yes, more good games are a good thing.
But for fans of college football as a whole, for the diehards that devour the sport 12 months of the year, for the fans of middle- or bottom-of-the-pack teams in even the best conferences, a world without the Pac-12 — or a new era of just two, top-heavy, juggernaut leagues — would be a depressing disaster.
If you love college football then you…