WEBVTT - The Dave Pasch Podcast - George Kliavkoff 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.279 Welcome to a special edition of the Dave Pash Podcast. 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:10.840 We branch way out, way beyond the Arizona Cardinals and 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.480 the National Football League. Today, our guests the commissioner of 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:19.360 the PAC twelve Conference, George Kleiovko. The hot button issue 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.520 right now in college sports is the College Football Playoff 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:28.080 expansion model of twelve teams, which recently fell through. Where 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.600 was the PAC twelve in all of this? What were 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:35.040 Georgia's thoughts on what went down inside that room when 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:39.760 they voted against the model, and what are his thoughts 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:43.000 on where the PAC twelve is with regard to scheduling 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:45.600 college football games, trying to be more of a player 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.960 with television and getting an audience beyond the West Coast. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.280 I would like for our best teams, particularly late in 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.080 the season, if they put themselves in a position for 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.400 a CFP invitation or for a Heisman Trophy vote, to 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.400 be able to highlight them earlier in the day as 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:04.960 a post to playing in the nighttime West Coast game. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.480 Also the nil name, image and likeness. How is that 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:12.360 shaping the future of college sports? George is very familiar 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.640 with all of this, even though he's in month number 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:19.360 nine as the commissioner of the conference. He was the 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:23.959 president of Entertainment in Sports for MGM Resorts. He worked 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.600 with Major League Baseball, with the National Hockey League and 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.399 bringing the Golden Nights to Las Vegas, so he's very 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:34.280 familiar with putting on a show with regard to sports 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.039 and making sports entertainment. They'll talk about that and much more. 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:40.840 We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.560 of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hilo River Hotels and Casinos. 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:47.720 Sign up for BETMGM today using code cards one thousand 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:49.720 and get your first bet risk free you up to 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.800 one thousand dollars new customer offer paid in free bets. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.560 Visit betmgm dot Comference Terms and conditions twenty one and 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.680 over Arizona only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem call one 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.520 eight hundred next step here. He is the commissioner of 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:09.359 the PAC twelfth Conference. George kleof Coff Well, George, first 0:02:09.360 --> 0:02:11.160 of all, I really appreciate you doing this. This is 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:16.320 actually primarily an NFL podcast through the Arizona Cardinals and 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.880 my job as the play by playhouse for the Cardinals, 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.440 but we branched out and done guests from the entertainment world, 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:27.120 from the NBA and college sports as well. We had 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.160 Kirk curb Street on during the college football season, and 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.560 I wanted to get you on to talk college football, 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.000 to talk college basketball, but to start by talking about 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:39.040 what the first eight months on the job have been 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.880 like for you in this position. Yeah, no, absolutely, you know. 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:44.960 The joke is that the last eight months have been 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:49.760 the most interesting decade of my career. My timing was impeccable. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.799 I started on July first, which was the first day 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.440 of nil Mame image and likeness is a couple of 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.360 weeks after the Alston decision by the Supreme Court, and 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.480 a couple of weeks before we found out about conference 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:07.280 realignment with Texas and Oklahoma, you know, leaving the Big 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.000 Twelve together to the SEC eventually. So it's been challenging. 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.080 There's been a lot of stuff going on. I would 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:17.160 say personally, it's been humbling and motivating to work with 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:21.160 our world class universities and to support the amazing student 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.239 athletes that we get to work with. So unprecedented change, 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.680 but but very exciting for me. And I'm you know, 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.280 I'm not a guy with a long background in history 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.440 in college athletics, which was a new space for me. Yeah, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:36.840 you mentioned your timing. I mean, this is the wildest 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.640 time that I can remember in my forty nine years 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.480 on this planet for college sports and just everything that's 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:49.560 going on. You talked about nil and you you know 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.400 everybody right now that the hot topic is college football 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.040 and I want to get there in a second. But 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.280 your history in charge of being the president of Entertainment 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.040 in sports for MGM Resorts, how do you feel like, 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:04.960 I know you've talked about this else where or else 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.040 we're maybe a little bit more in depth here. How 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.200 do you feel like that shaped you for this job 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:14.800 and the challenges that being the commissioner of a major conference? 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.320 What that requires. Well, I've been in sports and media 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.800 and digital technology for twenty five plus years. In my 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.440 career in different places professional sports as well as as 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.600 you mentioned MGM Resorts. I worked for Major League Baseball 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.400 Advanced Media, and I've worked for big media companies, And 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.600 you know, I think of sports and what we do 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.000 as kind of a subset of entertainment, and you know, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.119 we have other issues that we have to address because 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.160 of the unique nature of our student athletes. But at 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:47.720 the end of the day, we're putting on a show, 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.760 and we're creating made for television content. And I think 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.479 lessons learned at MGM Resorts and at Major League Baseball 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:59.320 and working for media companies really aligned well with what 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:01.960 we're trying to to do, particularly for the PAC twelve, 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:04.280 which you know has less than two and a half 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.039 years left on all of our current media rights deals 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:10.880 and we're just starting the process of renegotiating those. When 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:12.680 we think about that, we have to think about what's 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.640 great for our media partners and our fans and our 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:18.960 student ATHLETs. What made for TV programming should we be creating? Well, 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.440 the only VSPN just yet, George, feel like we're just 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:26.039 getting started with even though it's with Bill and obviously 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.400 doing the college football games on the PAC twelve. What 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:30.919 would you say your goals are that you know you 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.599 want to accomplish not just for the conference, but to 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.800 for college sports in general in the direction where college 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:41.760 sports is going. Yeah, I mean, I'll talk about college 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.080 sports sport broadly in a second. But but we've had 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.800 since I started. I think I actually announced it when 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:50.840 I was introduced months before I started, We've had four 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:55.560 key priorities for the PAC twelve and just an order 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.880 of kind of priority. The first is, historically our conference 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.560 has been the best in class in supporting student athletes. 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:07.720 We've been ahead of the game on benefits for student athletes, 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.359 We've been ahead of the game on diversity equity inclusion issues. 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.159 We were the first conference, as an example, to include 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.960 student athletes in our government structure, and that's a leadership 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.799 role that I want to continue to extend for the conference. 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.360 Second priority is related to football and men's basketball. You know, 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.840 we are a Power five conference that hasn't won one 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:34.160 of those two sports a national championship in seventeen years, 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:37.719 and I think that's just a really difficult position to 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.839 be in and an unfortunate position and inconsistent with our 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:45.640 history going back of being very strong in those sports. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.039 So everything we can do at the conference level to 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:54.359 optimize for CFP invitations and men's basketball tournament invites and seating, 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.719 we're going to do. Our third priority is to continue 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.400 our leadership position and being the conference of champions despite 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.520 kind of that drout in those two sports, we've dominated 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.159 all the other sports when we gets fifty three of 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:11.360 the last sixty years, including each of the last sixteen years, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:15.520 we've won more national championships than any other conference, and 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.680 we intend to continue that and extend it. And then 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.560 finally four fourth priority is what I mentioned before, which 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.119 is we have all of these media rights steals coming 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.520 up for renegotiation, and we have to balance how we 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:32.160 think about renegotiating those media rights steals and who we 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.960 choose to be our partner or partners in that space 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.040 with revenue and mind certainly, the money that we distribute 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.800 from our media rights steals is what supports a lot 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.840 of our student athlete programs, but we also have to 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:50.840 look at broader exposure and flexibility with how and when 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:54.240 we play our games to allow us to continue to 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:59.160 compete competitively in all of these sports. So along those lines, George, 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:03.400 and it's just something Larry Scott, your predecessor, had discussed. 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.640 What are your thoughts on you know, noon Eastern kicks 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.520 but they're ninety local kicks on a Saturday, to try 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:17.720 to get the PAC twelve viewer into that early window 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.160 on ESPN or on Fox, or you know, having games 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:26.160 on different nights. Obviously, Thursdays and Fridays have been you know, 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.800 long standing, there have been games in the pac twelve 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.600 on both those nights. But can you just talk about 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.719 with regard to scheduling, Yeah, listen, I think there it's 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.280 all trade offs. Right. We have played nine am bodyclock games. 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:45.600 I was at the game where Oregon beat Ohio State 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.360 at the horses Shoe earlier this year. That was a 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:52.240 nine am Oregon bodyclock kickoff and we did very well. 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.439 Making that a regular programming feature on the West Coast 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.440 I think might be a little bit more difficult. But 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.200 here how I think about it, we are the only 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.720 Power five conference that has teams in the Mountain and 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:08.880 Pacific time zones until BYU joins the Big twelve and 0:09:08.960 --> 0:09:11.839 a couple of years, and as a result, we are 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.600 able to provide programming in a primetime West Coast window 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.600 for our partners at ESPN and at Fox and others 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.720 can't provide. That's really, really valuable, and we get paid 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.199 a premium to do that. Now, that comes at a cost, right. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.720 Part of the cost is in the stadium. It's harder 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.680 to build kind of family traditions of going to games 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:34.839 when the young kids of the game and starting at 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:38.360 seven thirty or eight o'clock on a Saturday night kids 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.160 might not be able to stay up for that. Part 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.640 of it is national costs, right. We have games that 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.480 are played whereby halftime, seventy five percent of the population 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.800 of the country is most likely not watching the game 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.440 because they're in bed, and that hurts us for AP 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.559 votes and CFP votes and Heisman Trophy votes if we're 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.240 focused on football and we just have to balance those. 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.240 So do I want to play and be more creative 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:13.520 and be more flexible about playing in different time slots. Absolutely? Do. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:15.320 I want to work with our media partners to have 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:17.720 a little bit more control over which of our teams 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.920 played at which time slots. Absolutely. I would like for 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.840 our best teams, particularly late in the season, if they 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.600 put themselves in a position for a CFP invitation or 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.000 for a Heisman Trophy vote, to be able to highlight 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.000 them earlier in the day as opposed to playing in 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:37.720 the night time West Coast game. That doesn't mean we 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:39.960 won't be playing a game then, it just maybe two 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.800 different teams. Before we jump into the college football playoff 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.120 expansion discussion. I'm curious do you think, Georgie, that you're 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:53.800 the only commissioner that tweets out about shuffling Dre Snoop 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.520 and Eminem for his music listen in the morning. Like, 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.840 I don't know if I see Jim Phillips, the ACC commissioner, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:05.640 or Greg Sanky in doing that, but I think I 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.480 think Greg, thank you, and I are the only ones 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:12.400 who routinely use Twitter personally as opposed to the conference. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.160 All of our conferences use Twitter, but Greg, Greg and 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.400 I seem to be active on Twitter and follow each other. 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.360 And what I would say is Greg's an intellectual. Greg 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:24.360 often tweets out what the last book is that he 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.040 read and why it's important to him. I'm focused on 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:31.400 you know, when I'm not talking about conference stuff, I'm 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.640 focused on music, and I'm focused on fishing and other stuff. 0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.960 And I think that probably explains the difference between Greg 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:43.480 and I. He's very cerebral now. But I appreciated that tweet. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:45.040 I saw that, and then I also saw some of 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:49.040 your your tweets with a fish that you caught. There 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.920 are fish stories, but you actually have proof as you 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.280 tweeted out a picture of you or it actually might 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:56.640 have been your abbey on your Twitter at one point 0:11:56.720 --> 0:12:00.600 with you and yeah, that was a I went ice 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:04.559 fishing for the first time last month outside of Jack 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.560 and how Wyoming. And it was on a Friday, and 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.800 you know, I took Friday off and I kind of 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.240 felt proud of myself for taking a Friday off in 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.880 the middle of the basketball season. And the fact that 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.160 I caught a bunch of fish was great and I 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.319 was happy to share it. But the message there was 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:25.160 really I'm taking a personal day, and I was encouraging 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.520 the other folks who worked for the Pac twelve to 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:31.000 take personal days as well. I think recharges is important, 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:34.080 particularly in this job. This is a twenty four seven, 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.120 three sixty five job, or there is no downtime in college. 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:40.560 I bought a three face well, I often take personal days. 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.360 George the day after working with Bill Walton, who you 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:47.720 know very well. Bill. He is a big champion of 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.319 the Conference of Champions. How much time have you spent 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:57.640 with Bill and what was your first experience like with him? Well, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:01.040 as a fan, I have listened to him and watched him, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.160 you know, on games for a long long time before 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:06.400 I actually met him. I met him when I was 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:10.000 at MGM Resorts in Vegas, and you know, part of 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:14.000 my responsibility was we ran the Mandeliday Event Center where 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.120 the women's basketball tournament for the PAC twelve is, NT 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:21.320 Mobile Arena where the men's basketball Championship is. And you know, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.839 as the person who was running sports and entertainment at MGM, 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.200 it's just natural that you run across Bill and get 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.920 introduced to Bill. And I was quite surprised in advance 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.000 of one of the tournaments. I think it was a 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:35.880 couple of years back. You know, he found my number 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:37.920 called Bay and he said, I want to know all 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:39.760 about MGM. I want to know about T Mobile. I 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.040 want to know about um, you know, everything that you 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.679 guys do and how T mobile fits into that and 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:47.880 how to PAC twelve fits into that. And what I 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.160 found is that he's just incredibly diligent about doing the homework, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.360 you know, before he gets on the air and then 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.680 he drops all these little tickets, as you know better 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:59.920 than I do, but that those tickets come from lot 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.600 and lots of work behind the scenes before the game starts. 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:05.880 And I was the subject of a lot of that 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.800 when I was before I joined the conference. Oh yeah, 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.880 I think at one point you might have actually been 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.160 part of Walton Bingo. There might have been a square 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.960 with your name on it because there was where you 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.000 are getting a lot a lot of mentions, and you know, 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.920 with your work in connection to the city of Las Vegas, 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.920 I'm curious, what's the reception of the Raiders been like 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.040 there and how do you see that continuing to grow 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:34.880 in Vegas. Well, Listen, I think all professional sports that 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:38.440 have come to Vegas have seen great success. Right. I 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.440 was very fortunate at MGM to oversee and run the 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:46.200 Las Vegas Aces, which is a w NBA team that 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.160 we brought to Las Vegas several years back. One of 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.760 the last things I did at MGM before I left 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.720 was to actually sell the Aces to Mark Davis, who 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.280 owns the Raiders. As I mentioned running T Mobile Arena, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:04.920 we were the beneficiaries of the Vegas Golden Knights expansion team, 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.480 I mean, maybe the most successful expansion team in the 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:11.480 history of professional sports, making the Stanley Cup Championship their 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.480 first year out of the gate and being the playoffs 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:18.040 every year. And the Raiders I think will find great 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.120 success there. And it's good for the Raiders. I think 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.440 they have a home and to have passionate fans that 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.440 you know, previously had not had an NFL team to 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:28.800 root for, but I also think it's great for the city. 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.800 I think, you know, more than two thirds of the 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:34.800 folks who are in that stadium are traveling from out 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.440 of town come to Vegas to go to those games. 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.920 Most of those traveling teams are raiders fans from California 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.440 and other places, but there are also lots of fans 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.960 from visiting teams, and that really helps the economy here 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.840 in Vegas. So I think it's a great thing. So 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.920 let's shift gears to college football. In the recent news, 0:15:54.920 --> 0:16:00.280 George about playoff expansion not happening, falling through. Not sure 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:02.080 if that's the best way to describe it, but I 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.960 think for you know, for people that were hoping that 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.320 there would be an expansion beyond the four teams to 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:12.400 twelve before the contract runs out in twenty twenty five, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.720 the hope was that you guys would have been able 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.640 to get something done that didn't happen where And I 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.520 read that the PAC twelve is one of three conferences, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.880 to the other two being you know, the Big ten 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.600 in the ACC part of the alliance with you guys 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.360 that you guys voted against it. I know you had 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.560 talked publicly a lot about being a proponent for expansion. 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.680 So can you just kind of tell everybody you know 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.800 the timeline of that, did something change along the way, 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.640 what ultimately was it about the YEA, yeah, I'll try 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.480 to make it as clear as possible. And again you 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:50.760 have to balance, like I really think one of the 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:54.840 mistakes we've made is to announce a formula that not 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.440 everyone that needed to agree to it had agreed to yet, 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.480 and to miss out the expectations. So to get into 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:02.600 the details of who said what in the room, I'm 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:04.760 not going to do that, but at a very high level, 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.479 I'll tell you kind of what's public and will explain 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:12.639 what happened the way that the construct currently is for 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.120 college football playoffs. If you want to change the format 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.600 or anything else during the current term, you need unanimous 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.520 consent from all eleven people who get to vote, and 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.479 the vote comes from the Board board of the CFP, 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.720 which is made up of eleven presidents and chancellors, one 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.200 from each of the ten FDS conferences and Father Jenkins 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:40.600 from Never Dame. And there's a Board of Managers, which 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:43.480 are the ten conference commissioners and the athletic directors of 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:46.920 neverdain that make recommendations to the board on how to vote, 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.800 but eventually the board has to vote, and you need 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:54.800 eleven yes votes to change anything within the current term. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:18:00.800 And the proposal came down with the twelve teams, you know, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:07.000 six automatic qualifiers, six at large playing games in December, 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.880 four games New Year's weekend, and then semifinals and finals 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.920 and later in January. And I actually think there's quite 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:15.800 a lot to be sent for that formula. We had 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.080 some issues with it specific timing, you know, where the 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.040 playing games would be played, you know, some academic and 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.120 kind of student health issues that we actually worked through. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.760 And if the question at her hand would have been 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:33.600 do you want to expand for years eleven and twelve 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.000 in the twelve team proposed model, our vote would have 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.919 been yes. And I think despite the fact that our 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.720 vote would have been yes, it would not have passed 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:49.919 because the other two conferences that you mentioned are on 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.040 the record saying they would not have voted for it 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:55.119 for different reasons. The acc just doesn't think it's the 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.560 right time to expand, and the Big Ten has publicly 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.080 said that they don't think six automatic qualifiers to the 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:06.880 sixth highest ranked conference champions is appropriate. They think each 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.800 of the Power five should get an automatic qualifier, and 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.439 then one automatic qualifiers should go to the next highest 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:17.119 ranked conference champion. So I would have voted yes, but 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.919 that wasn't the vote. The vote was, will you agree 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.679 to expand to the twelve team playoff for years eleven, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:28.240 twelve and beyond, you know, like years thirteen and beyond. 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:32.159 And what we have in year thirteen and beyond is 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.160 no current contractional commitment to each other. There's no granted rights, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.720 there's no there's no contract. So what you need to 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:43.280 expand beyond that is just enough people to say they 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.399 want to agree on playing in a certain format and 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:50.680 then move forward. And I'm in favor the patch twelve 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.680 is in favor of all sorts of different extensions formats. 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.399 We've been in favor of twelve teams eighteen six plus six, 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.760 five plus one plus, which is what the Big ten 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.159 has asked for. And the only thing I said is 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:07.720 there are some issues that we need to resolve before 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:09.919 I could vote yes or that. And the one that 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.320 gets widely reported is the rose Pole. We can talk 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.400 about that, animate that's a tiny little issue. Set that aside. 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.800 The other thing I said is I also want to 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.199 know whether we're sticking with the current revenue split or 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:25.879 whether people are proposing changing the revenue split understanding that 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.240 the pie will be bigger, there'll be more money if 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.000 you're playing more games. And the answer I got is 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:34.000 we're not going to commit to the current revenue split 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.080 and we're not going to discuss that. So are you 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.200 voting yes or no? And in my life, I've never 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.720 voted or signed a contract. I don't know the financial 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.480 terms of the contract, so I was forced to vote no. 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:51.840 I would much rather have agreed on expansion. I continue 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.160 to want to do the work behind the scenes to 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:58.320 solve the open issues. Are open issues issues, open issues, 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:01.080 Big Ten's open issues. I think we're going to get there, 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:03.199 But what I really hope is that we actually do 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:07.040 the work first and then announce the outcome, as opposed 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.760 to announce what a couple of people have agreed to 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.840 and then hope everybody else comes along. So and I 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:16.360 do want to get to the Rose Bowl, because yeah, 0:21:16.400 --> 0:21:18.760 people have brought that up as a you know, as 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:23.879 a proposed sticking point. Why were there so many that 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:32.640 voted for expansion not knowing the financials beyond twenty twenty five. Well, 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.560 I think several of them probably think that they deserve 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.840 more of the financials and or you know, may or 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:43.240 may not want to demand that. I think others are 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.960 desperate for access to the CFP and would have voted 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.840 for anything that gave them access. So, you know, I 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:55.280 can't speak for other commissioners. I don't know the answer. 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:58.560 I think we're going to get there anyway. And the 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:01.440 other I guess the other thing focus on is if 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.480 we know, because we can't get a unanimous boat, that 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.200 we're not expanding in years twenty four and twenty five, 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:08.399 and we're really talking about what does it look like 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:10.720 in twenty six and beyond. We got a couple of 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:14.399 years to figure that out, and lots of other stuff 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:17.440 is going on in college athletics that we could hopefully 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:19.760 settle or resolve or get a little bit more piece 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.040 around before we have to decide this. This is not 0:22:23.119 --> 0:22:26.719 the highest priority, and I think kind of putting it 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:28.880 on the back burner for a little while is helpful. 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:31.679 So touch on the rose bowl if you ken, George, 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:33.520 and then just if you can follow up on what 0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:36.359 you just said about issues that are more important, maybe 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:37.840 kind of give us a sense of you know in 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:43.080 your mind what those issues are. Yeah, So just quickly 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.320 on the Rose Bowl. The Rose Bowls, as have all 0:22:46.320 --> 0:22:49.399 of the other Year six bowls, and the particularly the 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.760 contract balls, have been very flexible as the playoffs have 0:22:53.880 --> 0:22:57.440 developed and expanded. And as an example, you know, one 0:22:57.480 --> 0:23:01.840