Utah AD Mark Harlan responds to rumors about potential Big 12 interest

The Pac-12 has been right at the center of conference realignment discussions and has remained there ever since it started. The losses of USC and UCLA got things going out west and it hasn’t stopped, regardless of which schools are rumored to be headed in or out of the league.

To be clear, though, Utah isn’t headed anywhere, at least for the foreseeable future. While speaking at Pac-12 Media Days, Utes AD Mark Harlan made it plain where Utah stands with the conference, specifically amidst rumors that they’d have interest in the Big 12, per Max Olson at The Athletic.

Utah AD Mark Harlan: "I think our words and actions speak for themselves. We are a proud member of this conference and look forward to its future success."

— Max Olson (@max_olson) July 21, 2023

Utah is entering its 13th season within the Pac-12. It’s their seventh conference designation overall. Their most recent other stops were in the Mountain West and what was formerly the WAC.

The Ute’s athletics program has thrived as a member of the league. The football program has been a Top-25 team in each of the past nine seasons while winning the previous two Pac-12 Championships. Both basketball programs have had varying levels of success while baseball and softball have done much of the same.

Even so, many have seen some of the supposed writing on the wall in the Pac-12. With two of their biggest brands, if not the two biggest, heading to the Big Ten, all options have been on the table for their other members, whether it’s staying and waiting for other schools to join or making a run for it themselves.

Still, even amid plenty of disarray, Harlan is firm about Utah’s position as a Pac-12 member. They’ve done what they’ve needed to to maintain their loyalty to the league and will continue to do so based on his statements in Las Vegas.

Kliavkoff updates progress of new Pac-12 media rights deal, potential expansion

The Pac-12 Media Day began without a new media deal in place for the conference. Despite that, Commissioner George Kliavkoff remains confident that there will be a deal coming soon.

While giving his opening remarks, Kliavkoff did his best to address questions about this deal and the process around it.

“Getting the right deal has always been important. More important to our board and the conference than getting the expeditious,” George Kliavkoff said.

When USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, the conference began looking for a new media deal to create some stability for the remaining members. However, since then, they haven’t announced a deal despite consistent rumors about that deal.

“The longer we wait for the media deal, the better our options get,” Kliavkoff said. He also pointed out that the conference is on track to ink a new deal at about the time the conference was initially supposed to do had the Pac-12 not begun seeking a new media deal early. He said, “In the end, we are on track to announce our deals at about the same time everyone would have predicted before conference realignment…(The Pac-12) will be rewarded in the near future.”

As questions began, Kliavkoff emphasized that he wants the focus to be on football right now, not the media deal

“We are not announcing our media deal today on purpose. We want the focus to be on football,” George Kliavkoff said.

The implication is that the Pac-12 does have a media deal in place. Even so, they aren’t going to announce it yet. When asked about that, Kliavkoff denied that implication.

“I think you’re reading too much into that… We want to have the focus on football today. We have an incredibly good football story to tell and we want that to be the focus today.”