George Kliavkoff

George Kliavkoff (born 1967) is an American college athletic administrator. He was most recently the commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference, a position he held between 2021 and 2024. Kliavkoff previously held positions at Major League Baseball, NBCUniversal, Hulu, A&E Networks and — most recently prior to his Pac-12 appointment — MGM Resorts International.^[1]

Kliavkoff's tenure at the Pac-12 saw ten of the twelve member schools announce plans to depart the conference, and his time at the helm of the conference was described by The Mercury News as "catastrophic."^[2]

Early life and education

Kliavkoff attended Boston University, graduating in 1989 where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, μψ chapter, and participated in rowing. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia in 1993.^[3]

Career

Kliavkoff launched his professional career as a lawyer before pivoting to a long line of positions in sports and entertainment. After four years at RealNetworks, he joined Major League Baseball in 2003 as an executive vice president for business with MLB Advanced Media. After three years in MLB, he became the chief digital officer for NBCUniversal where he lateraled into Hulu. He moved to Hearst Communications in 2009 where he would spend seven years. In 2016, he was named CEO of Jaunt XR, a virtual reality content studio.

In 2018, Kliavkoff settled in

Kliavkoff inherited an embattled conference that faced issues with contentious campus relationships, lack of representation in the College Football Playoff, reports of irresponsible conference office spending^[10][11] and shrinking television rights revenues due to the poor performance of the Pac-12 Network.^[12]

Kliavkoff entered college sports for the first time in a rapidly changing space, with his start date coinciding with the beginning of the

Kliavkoff led an effort to form an Alliance between the Pac-12, the Big Ten and the ACC. It was announced on August 24, 2021, with the intention of creating non-conference scheduling opportunities and stabilizing membership.^[13] The Alliance, however, would later become a target of criticism for lacking any formal agreement and not preventing conference defections.^[14]

On March 29, 2022, the Pac-12 announced a shift to remote work from its employees in an effort to reduce high rent costs in San Francisco.^[15]

Destabilization of the conference

One day shy of Kliavkoff's one-year anniversary as commissioner of the conference, Pac-12 mainstays USC and UCLA unexpectedly announced intentions to depart for the Big Ten Conference, a move considered "gutting for the future of the Pac-12."^[16] With the conference's largest television market now removed, Kliavkoff was characterized as needing a "miracle" to keep the conference alive.^[17]

Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 responded to the departure of its Los Angeles schools by opening its negotiations for a new media-rights deal on July 5, 2022.^[18] This opened a year of Kliavkoff working in the shadows with very few public remarks^[19] and constant media speculation at the lack of a signed media deal and demise of the conference,^[20] primarily stirred by the Big 12 Conference and commissioner Brett Yormark.^[21]

On June 7, 2023, the remaining 10 members of the conference reportedly agreed to the terms of a grant-of-rights deal that included equal media rights-revenue but unequal revenue sharing from postseason success.^[22] This step did not actually constitute a signing of the grant of rights nor a media-rights proposal, but rather the members agreeing to new terms of a future grant-of-rights deal.

On July 27, 2023, after months of speculation, Colorado announced it would return to the Big 12 in 2024, signaling more skepticism over the impending media-rights situation.^[23]

With the conference reduced to nine teams, Kliavkoff was forced to present the best current media-rights offer on the table to the league's remaining members in hopes of fending off further departures. He did so on August 1, 2023, reportedly revealing an incentive-based deal with Apple with guaranteed payments of around $20 million per school per year, over $10 million less than the rival Big 12 deal.^[24] The offer was met with largely negative feedback and began rumors of further defections.^[25]

The Pac-12 reportedly was close to sticking together and signing a grant-of-rights contract on the morning of August 4, 2023,^[26] with "momentum slowed" between Oregon, Washington and the Big Ten.^[27] However, hours later, Oregon and Washington eventually signed on with the Big Ten,^[28] spurring a later departure of Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to the Big 12.^[29]

With four schools remaining — California, Oregon State, Stanford and Washington State — Kliavkoff and the Pac-12 issued a statement late on August 4 that its new focus is "securing the best possible future for each of our member universities."^[30] On September 1, it was announced that California and Stanford would be departing the Pac-12 for the ACC in 2024.^[31]

On September 8, 2023, Oregon State and Washington State — the only two remaining schools in the conference — filed a lawsuit against the Pac-12 and Kliavkoff in Washington State Superior Court for control of the conference, contending that the departing schools, under the conference constitution, forfeited their right to participate in governing the conference by publicly declaring their intention to leave, and that if they retain control they might use it to dissolve the league and drain its millions of dollars in assets.^[32]

On February 19, 2024, the Pac-12 board of directors announced that Teresa Gould would replace Kliavkoff as commissioner on March 1.^[33]

Personal

Kliavkoff grew up in Scarsdale, New York. He and his wife Ellen have two children: Delaney and Henry.^[34]

References

External links

• Pac-12 Conference profile