LOS ANGELES – Commissioner George Kliavkoff said his Pac-12 Conference is far from finished, despite the impending defections of the University of Southern California and UCLA.
Kliavkoff confirmed the Pac-12 is actively exploring expansion and lobbed several feisty jabs at the Big 12 during an eventful opening speech at his conference’s football media day Friday in the nation’s second-largest media market.
While painting a promising picture of the league’s future even after USC and UCLA leave for the Big Ten in 2024, Kliavkoff said the Pac-12 intends to keep its current members while entertaining new additions.
The commissioner also acknowledged frustration with the upheaval created by the defections, saying he had spent the past month “trying to defend against grenades being lobbed in from every corner of the Big 12 trying to destabilize our remaining conference.”
Kliavkoff responded to Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s recent declaration that his league was “open for business” in expansion by suggesting those moves could include Big 12 schools coming his way, instead of the opposite assumption.