Bowlsby and Kliavkoff Meet for a Second Day and Big 12 CEOs To Be Briefed Thursday

STILLWATER – The talk must have been good, or then again, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff may have just needed the time away from the office.

It was middle of the day Tuesday when Max Olson of The Athletic broke the story that the two commissioners had arranged to meet and discuss options of mingling their two conferences together in a potential schedule alignment or even a merger. The Big 12 is weakened with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma as they followed up secret negotiations that lasted over six months by joining the Southeastern Conference for the future, at the latest following the end of the current television contract in 2024-25.

The Pac-12 is intact, but has struggled with television network issues, football relevancy and trying to squeeze Pac-12 football in the first window on Saturdays of noon eastern and 11 a.m. central time. Now, we find out that talks on Wednesday went so well that the two talked again on Thursday. Pokes Report reported that first early Thursday morning.

On my daily radio show on Triple Play Sports Radio, Sports Talk with Robert Allen and Friends we had Olson on as a guest.

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George Kilavkoff at Pac-12 Football Media Days.

“I’ve heard where they’re meeting; I’m not going to say where, but it sounds like a very lovely, scenic place,” said Olson of a locale such as San Francisco, Coronado Island, Lake Tahoe, somewhere out West. The Pac-12 offices are in San Francisco, but Kilavkoff lives in Las Vegas.

“I’ve heard reports of the same thing you shared; they’re going into day two of this. Does that proved a little bit of hope that this is not just sort of a quick courtesy visit from [George] Kliavkoff and that this is a real, potentially a real strategy session? I think that lends a little bit of hope for that. I know Bowlsby’s going to meet with Big 12 ADs this week and I’m sure he’ll brief them on how it went and what the options are.

Yes, Pokes Report learned that Bowlsby will meet virtually with the Big 12 school presidents and chancellors early at seven a.m. on Thursday morning.

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Spencer Sanders congratulates former Cowboys receiver Tylan Wallace during the win at Oregon State in 2019.

“I think these are two guys getting together who, my sense from talking with other Big 12 ADs, that they are no bad options right now,” said Olson as he continued. “Like, let’s put it all on the table, let’s see what we can figure out that kind of solves our problems here. While the speculation quickly turns to what’s the scheduling alliance look like and how does that make sense, or what are all the issues that come with a merger, which is obviously a much more complicated thing. I think these guys are pretty open to any creative solution here, especially if they can figure out a way that it benefits both leagues.”

Olson is no different than any of us in the media, no different than anybody that is involved in this from school presidents to athletic directors to coaches to student-athletes to fans. It takes away from what everyone enjoys the competition and the action on the field.

“We also can’t live in this ‘sky is falling’ mode for 18 months, isn’t that going to be miserable?” Olson said. “People are going to have to wrap their heads around ‘hey, you’ve gotta have some patience with this.  We’re all going to have to find a way to settle down a little bit this fall and understand this stuff will be going on behind the scenes, hopefully there’s a good resolution, but I’m sure that’s why Mike Gundy said what he said, like you can’t spend all your time stressing about this.”

Earlier in the day, Oklahoma State President Dr. Kayse Shrum was interviewed by Steve Daniels on The Morning Scramble on Triple Play Sports Radio, and she said something very similar.

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Dr. Kayse Shrum at Big 12 Football Media Days.

“Where we are now, it is time to focus on Oklahoma State University and where we are going,” Dr. Shrum said. “We can let the Big 12 deal with these issues with the conference. In my role as president, I’m responsible for creating a vision and directing the University toward that and then also protect the interests of the University and be the spokesperson for what is in the best interest of the University.”

What that means is Dr. Shrum will be interested in what Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby has to say about those meeting over the past two days with Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff, but it also means Dr. Shrum and her team have been working on their own to find Oklahoma State a singular path for the future if they have to take it. I can guarantee that has been happening.