Pac-12 board meets Monday: Packed agenda includes media rights and legal affairs but no decisions expected
The number of realignment carnival barkers and basement-couch Twitterati with an opinion on the Pac-12’s existential crisis runs into the hundreds, if not thousands across the college football landscape.
The number of people who know the details of the media rights negotiations and expansion strategy is probably closer to 15 or 20.
Many of them will convene Monday in Seattle for the quarterly board meeting.
The presidents and chancellors are not expected to vote on a media deal or expansion. Resolution on both matters likely will come in the late spring or early summer.
In fact, the twin pillars of Pac-12 survival will share the board’s agenda with a litany of other issues, including updates on the Pac-12 Networks and on-field competition, plus financial and legal affairs.
Legal matters alone could consume an outsized portion of the meeting, for there are headwinds on numerous fronts facing the conference specifically and college sports generally:
— Former Pac-12 executives Mark Shuken and Brent Willman have filed a wrongful termination complaint against the conference stemming from the Comcast overpayment fiasco. They claim former commissioner Larry Scott was aware of the overpayments and are seeking “in excess of $2 million” in damages from the Pac-12, according to the complaint.
— A new piece of legislation winding through the California assembly threatens to undercut the college sports economic model by creating a revenue-sharing arrangement between the schools and athletes.
— The National Labor Relations Board is pursuing unfair labor charges against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA as part of an effort by college sports activists to have football and basketball players recognized as employees.
— Members of Congress are seriously considering federal guidelines for athlete compensation, including NIL (name, image and likeness), according to Sports Illustrated.
Additionally, gambling scandals have hit three schools in recent weeks (Alabama, Iowa and Iowa State), with more expected to surface in the future as sports wagering gains steam nationally.
NCAA president Charlie Baker is scheduled to join by Zoom and brief the Pac-12 board on the legal and governmental affairs.
The meeting will take place on Washington’s campus (Husky Stadium, to be specific). Although UW president Ana Mari Cauce is halfway through her two-year term as board chair, the location isn’t related to her position.
Instead, it’s part of commissioner George Kliavkoff’s plan to rotate the quarterly meetings throughout the conference — the winter edition was held at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium — following the decision to shutter the San Francisco headquarters and move to a remote work environment.
The athletic directors will participate in strategy sessions during the morning session, then leave the presidents to conduct board-related business.
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