Report: Pac-12, commissioner George Kliavkoff still considering expansion

The Pac-12 Conference is still considering expansion, per a report from The Athletic, and it will announce a decision on whether it intends to expand before the end of the week.

First-year commissioner George Kliavkoff told The Athletic that the decision to expand has been vetted on a parallel path to the alliance.

The Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten formally announced the creation of a multi-conference alliance on Tuesday, following weeks of reporting that talks between commissioners were ramping up. The decision to form an alliance followed news that commissioner Greg Sankey extended invites to the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma, both of which will leave the Big 12 to join the SEC.

“The alliance includes a scheduling component for football and women’s and men’s basketball designed to create new inter-conference games, enhance opportunities for student-athletes, and optimize the college athletics experience for both student-athletes and fans across the country,” a joint statement said of the alliance.

In addition to scheduling, the alliance was established with the goal of creating a shared vision for future governance in collegiate athletics. The three conferences are expected to work together for future changes such as College Football Playoff expansion.

Should the Pac-12 choose to expand, however, it could potentially extend invites to a Big 12 school. The Pac-12 currently has 12 members split into two divisions: California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and Washington State make up the Pac-12 North Division, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, UCLA, USC and Utah make up the Pac-12 South division.

Although there have been few reports specifying which schools might be of interest to the Pac-12, former Pittsburgh football coach Dave Wannstedt on Tuesday made an appearance on 670 The Score in Chicago and suggested that he has heard rumblings of a shakeup.

“I was at the Fox meetings in Phoenix last week, and we were all talking, and a lot of the Big Ten people were all there,” Wannstedt said “It sounds like Oklahoma State and Kansas State are going to the Pac-12, so that’s done.”

The Pac-12 has not given specifics of which schools it has targeted, and Wannstedt is the first to suggest specific programs, albeit in an informal fashion. It remains unclear what Wannstedt might know, but his word could have some validity given his space in the college football realm.

“We’re going to announce our decision about whether or not to expand (membership) before the end of the week,” Kliavkoff said to The Athletic.