While Colorado flirts with exit, Pac-12 commish continues urging patience on TV deal

LAS VEGAS — Colorado athletic director Rick George swiftly left the main stage at Pac-12 football media day on Friday only to be met by a handful of inquisitive reporters.

For months now, Colorado’s future as a member of the Pac-12 has been in doubt. George and his chancellor, Phil DiStefano, have left open the possibility that the school could pursue other league suitors, such as the Big 12, if the Pac-12’s impending television deal isn’t satisfactory.

Naturally, at media day, reporters were interested in learning more.

“I’ve got a flight to catch!” George bellowed.

Fleet-footed and faster than he looks, George pivoted, turning a corner and disappearing down a dark hallway, eventually exiting this glamorous monstrosity, Resorts World Las Vegas, and heading out into the 100-degree temperatures of The Strip.

It’s true. George had a flight to catch, and he was already running behind, in jeopardy of missing his jet. We’ve all been there, rushing to the airport in a panicked hurry. However, this scene encapsulated the Pac-12’s hairy situation — one of its most respected administrators escaping from a pack of reporters into the desert heat.

For eight hours here at their annual celebration of the upcoming season, commissioner George Kliavkoff and Co. attempted to shift focus on actual football. After all, the conference boasts the most talented crop of returning quarterbacks in the country (led by Heisman winner Caleb Williams); possesses at least one College Football Playoff contender in USC (for at least one more year); features fun, offensive wizards like Kalen DeBoer (Washington) and Chip Kelly (UCLA); and includes the country’s most buzzworthy hire of the offseason (Deion Sanders, though he missed media day while undergoing surgery).

And yet, for a second consecutive year at this event, the league’s uncertain future and continued instability lingered like the new Vegas Sphere — ominous and unavoidable.

Standing at the podium on the main stage, Kliavkoff fielded a peppering of questions and, to his credit, offered answers to them all.

No, he said, the Pac-12 media deal is not finalized. Yes, the Pac-12’s media deal will be a strong one that, he says, has grown stronger the longer the league has waited. No, he’s not concerned about losing any current Pac-12 members. Yes, he is aware of the now year-long narrative about his league, that the Pac-12 is on the way to a collapse.

“I know where the sources of that are coming from,” he said. “I discount that because I know the truth.”

For many of us, the only real known truth about the Pac-12’s media negotiations is … nothing. Speculation has run rampant, but the talks have been cloaked in secrecy. Kliavkoff has been tight with details, even with his own constituents. Some take that as an ominous sign. Others say it’s quite normal.

On Thursday, Pac-12 presidents and administrators met for what turned out to be another limited update on the progress of negotiations, multiple sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports — a disappointment considering the Colorado chancellor’s public comments earlier this week. DiStefano told the Denver Post that figures for a potential TV contract were expected to be shared Thursday.

That was never the case, according to those within the league.

Why did DiStefano make such a comment? Was he using it as a tool to put pressure on the commissioner? Some believe that to be the case.

Impatience is growing.

“We need to see numbers,” said one conference official.

Some things are known.

In his main address Friday, Kliavkoff confirmed that a grant-of-rights between the 10 current members has been negotiated and will be announced alongside a TV deal, whenever one is finalized (the expectation is an uneven revenue distribution similar to the ACC’s new model). Also, league members continue to lean away from the idea of expanding beyond 10 schools, potentially leaving out San Diego State and SMU which are considered the top expansion targets.

But perhaps the Pac-12 deal is on the cusp of completion. In an interesting comment during his opening address, Kliavkoff may have offered a window into the timeline.

“We are not announcing the TV deal today on purpose because I want the focus to be on football,” he said.

Does that mean it is done? He told the questioner that they were “reading too much into” his statement.

Alas, the clock is ticking. A handful of Pac-12 presidents have, over the past several months, announced public deadlines for a TV deal’s completion only to see them pass. And a sitting chancellor publicly pressuring his commissioner isn’t ideal.

These are self-inflicted wounds from a league already battered from the outside. The Big 12’s pursuit of Pac-12 schools is real, though many believe that only one school has reciprocated the interest: Colorado.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s courtship of the Buffaloes is alive and well. Their dance will continue, likely until Kliavkoff produces a TV contract that is either good enough to keep CU or bad enough to see it go.

“It’s not a concern,” Kliavkoff said of possible defectors.

Maybe he’s right not to fear the loss of a member school. Or maybe he’s wrong.

George’s swift exit Friday speaks for itself.