Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAS VEGAS — After months of speculation and rumors about the Four Corner schools potentially looking to move onto the Big 12, athletic director Mark Harlan made Utah's position in the Pac-12 clear Friday.
"I think our words and actions speak for themselves," Harlan said as part of a Q&A session with media during Friday's Pac-12 media day in Las Vegas. "We are a proud member of this conference and look forward to its future success."
Although a simple statement by Harlan, it was one that solidified Utah's position in a tumultuous year for the Pac-12 after it lost USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and awaits a never-ending media rights deal that has stretched into a year of rampant speculation about the supposed demise of the conference.
If anything, Harlan's was one of the first public statements from a sitting athletic director as to what Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff has repeatedly claimed to be a conference working in unison for its remaining 10 members. Harlan remains committed to the cause in an effort to keep Utah in a position to succeed, and he believes that's in the Pac-12.
"We believe, and still believe, that for Utah it is to be in this conference," Harlan later told KSL.com. "We've had great success in this conference, our university's profile has been raised with these institutions. And if there is a path to move forward, we believe it's in this conference, and we're seeing that path emerge.
"It's taken patience, it's taking stick-to-itiveness, and really good communication, but I think the reward will pay off for that and we're excited," he added. "It's always been, though, at the end of the day, about the University of Utah. And that's why we believe in digging in and helping George get to the finish line. It's the best thing we can do for him — and as such for us."
On Friday, Kliavkoff didn't announce a new media rights deal, but said the conference remains committed to "getting the right deal." His focus during media day, he said, was to talk about the football product and its position of having some of the best quarterbacks in the country.
His message succeeded in part, but a majority of the questions asked by the media during the general session were about the impending media rights deal and the "noise" surrounding the collapse of the conference.
"In board meetings in the last year, we constantly update our board," Kliavkoff said. "I think they're enthusiastic, like I am, about the media deal. I will tell you what we've seen is the longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get. I think our board realizes that. There's an underlying shift in the media market that's happening. We're long-term taking advantage of that. Short-term it may have provided some hiccups."
Those hiccups — a shifting media landscape or the delay to what many expected to be a done deal before media day — are something the conference isn't worried about long term because it believes it's close to striking a competitive deal. It's something that Harlan, too, believes has been the right move, especially in an environment that's been out of the conference's control.
Kliavkoff has remained mostly silent about the rhetoric surrounding the conference, but it's one he believes is taking the "high road" and not getting involved in a "he said-he said" debate about every rumor released.
"I could have spent all of last year getting into a he said-he said on every single rumor that's been passed about our conference," Kliavkoff said. "We decide to take the high road. We decide to focus on the future of the conference. That's why we haven't engaged."
Still, it's left Kliavkoff and the conference exposed to outside rhetoric about the future of the conference.
"I think the board has been real clear that George's primary responsibility is to cut the best deal for this conference and everything secondary to that, in some ways, is irrelevant," Harlan told KSL.com. "So he's taking orders from the board, of which I fully support — get your head down, go work with these media deals. At the same time, sports media business has been disrupted.
"At the end of the day, what's going to be remembered here is the deal that's done, not when he should have spoke or not. I do think there's a fair argument to correcting the record along the way and maybe you could say that, but the most important thing he needs to do with his negotiating team is cut the deal, and that's been his focus."
But the noise will remain — including the questions, rumors and speculation — until a media deal is signed.
