Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff thinks USC and UCLA are regretting decision to go to Big Ten
The college football universe is still in slight shock after the news that USC and UCLA are departing from the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten, but one thing that has remained a constant since the announcement is the distain and frustration from other Pac-12 members.
One of the people who has been the most verbal about their feelings is Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff, who told The Athletic that the decision made by the two schools may already be causing regret saying:
“It’s clear that UCLA and USC made a decision for short-term financial gain at the expense of their student-athletes,” Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff told The Athletic on Friday. “It’s 100 percent clear to me. It’s really unfortunate, and I think they are already regretting it, given the pushback that they’ve gotten from almost every corner of their communities. I think they will regret it more as time goes on.”
Kliavkoff even fired a shot at UCLA about the amount of "work" they put into the move to the Big Ten, which hasn't been going as swimmingly as they expected, due to the fact their move is now being reviewed by The University of California Board of Regents for the separation from other UC schools such as Cal. Something that Kliavkoff thinks they likely would have thought about before the move saying:
“Look at all the work Oklahoma and Texas had to do when, 12 years ago, the Pac-12 tried to raid them. But it was always Oklahoma State and Texas Tech coupling them, and that stopped it. So, obviously they’d learned their lessons, and whatever work they needed to get done behind the scenes to fix it, they did. UCLA obviously did no work because this should not be a political issue at this point. It’ll be interesting to see what happens at that hearing."
Whether or not the regents will actually make a decision that prevents the move is unknown at the moment, but it could serve as quite the snag on the way out of UCLA.
The Pac-12 on the other hand has turned their attention to what their alternatives are, whether it be a partnership with another conference like the ACC or adding schools such as San Diego State and SMU. It will be interesting though to see if anything comes out of those two options, or if schools like Oregon, Washington, and Stanford will be the next to go.
The Pac-12 is at risk of having more schools poached regardless of the schools publicly saying that they will stick together, so it may be an every man for themselves type of situation.
