When the Pac-12 went attempting for its subsequent commissioner, the convention came to Las Vegas, the place it has deep ties, and on Thursday employed George Kliavkoff, a neatly-recognized face.
As president of entertainment and sports for MGM Hotels, Kliavkoff labored with the Pac-12, resulting within the convention yearly staging its males’s and women folk’s basketball tournaments in Las Vegas and its soccer championship at Allegiant Stadium the following two years.
Kliavkoff also helped stable NCAA championship events for Las Vegas and oversaw the Aces ahead of WNBA group changed into offered to Raiders owner Price Davis in January.
Kliavkoff, 54, signed a 5-365 days contract with the Pac-12 and begins July 1, changing Larry Scott.
“What drew us to George changed into his skill to study the place the hockey puck changed into going to shuffle,” talked about Oregon President Michael H. Schill, who chaired the hunt committee. “It attracted all of us to him. Intercollegiate athletics on the whole and the Pac-12 particularly is at a severe crossroads. We reflect that George is the true particular person to meet this day’s challenges and heaps extra importantly the challenges of the prolonged elope.”
For Las Vegas, Kliavkoff also helped land the 2023 NCAA Division I males’s basketball regional and 2026 Division I males’s hockey Remaining Four, each of which is ready to be played at T-Cell Arena.
Allegiant Stadium can even be in line for a future Natty Bowl, College Soccer Playoff Nationwide Championship and Remaining Four. Kliavkoff’s successor will must support navigate the challenges of securing such events.
“Las Vegas has change into one amongst the nation’s most engaging hubs for collegiate carrying events and has built deep ties with the PAC-12,” MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle talked about in an announcement. “With George as a relied on companion, MGM Hotels looks to be like ahead to strengthening that bond even extra.”
The MGM purchased the Aces bigger than three years ago when they were in San Antonio. Kliavkoff later changed into the lead negotiator in promoting the group to Davis.
“No. 1, he changed into very an authority about sports,” Davis talked about. “No. 2, he changed into a irritating negotiator, nevertheless I mediate changed into an ideal negotiator. It changed into fun, and since that time, we’ve gotten alongside immense and he’s been very precious to us.”
Kliavkoff heads to the Pac-12 because it trie to salvage its living amongst college athletics’ elite.
The Pac-12 hasn’t won a males’s basketball national championship since 1997, though three teams this 365 days made the Elite Eight and previous. The convention hasn’t won soccer title since 2004, and it closing placed a group within the four-group playoff discipline in 2016.
“We know the place the bread is buttered,” Kliavkoff talked about. “We’re allowing for the income sports and successful in males’s basketball and soccer.”
Kliavkoff talked about he’ll recommend expanding the soccer playoff discipline and look all areas for the convention to enhance. He is also within the support of making certain that athletes abet financially from name, image and likeness, calling it a recruiting edge for the Pac-12.
His different topic will seemingly be to enhance the Pac-12’s exposure.
Kliavkoff, a journalism essential at Boston University, served in govt roles with several media companies, including Predominant League Baseball Developed Media.
“On the present time, the Pac-12 Network has a long way fewer subscribers than any different linked community, and we have gotten to repair that,” Kliavkoff talked about.
Contact reporter Price Anderson at [email protected] Note @markanderson65 on Twitter.
