SMU, rumored Pac-12 expansion candidate, keeps commissioner’s visit under the radar

[BleedGopher]

Per the Dallas Morning News:

If SMU had its way, likely no one outside a privileged few would have known he was there — the man who could hold the school’s athletic future in his hands.

But wait, was he actually at Moody Coliseum on Wednesday night as expected?

“I hope he’s here,” SMU senior Jordan Thomas said during the second half.

“He” would be Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff, who is searching for a new media rights deal and, potentially, new conference additions to strengthen his negotiation after the departures of USC and UCLA. That would be the reason for his visit to SMU on Wednesday, and a recent trip to San Diego State, according to multiple reports.

A Pac-12 spokesman declined to comment on the reported visit. SMU officials didn’t answer inquiries, either. But a person with knowledge of the visit told The Dallas Morning News that Kliavkoff had made it to campus, and he was photographed during the men’s basketball game against Temple on Wednesday night.

SMU, rumored Pac-12 expansion candidate, keeps commissioner’s visit under the radar

UNIVERSITY PARK — If SMU had its way, likely no one outside a privileged few would have known he was there — the man who could hold the school’s athletic...

www.dallasnews.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[short ornery norwegian]

the rumor mill continues to suggest that the Pac-12 wants to add SMU and San Diego State. The Pac-12 has had.......issues.....finalizing its media rights deal after losing USC and UCLA.

I have seen a few people floating the idea that the Dakota schools - at least SDSU and NDSU - could potentially wind up in the Mountain West if they want to move from FCS to FBS.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Definitely slim pickins’ left in the realignment merry go round if SMU is the best the Pac 12 can get. Yuck.

 

[Holy Man]

Definitely slim pickins’ left in the realignment merry go round if SMU is the best the Pac 12 can get. Yuck.

Any d-1 in a large tv market that a power 5 doesn’t have a presence in has a chance. PAC trying to reach into Dallas market. Desperate.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Definitely slim pickins’ left in the realignment merry go round if SMU is the best the Pac 12 can get. Yuck.

I know this is the basketball board, and I know football drives realignment, but I don't see why SMU is a significantly worse pick than TCU was when they joined the Big 12 years ago.

 

[Gophers_4life]

FWIW, the school is still (as far as I could find?) entangled with the Methodist Church in a lawsuit:

A judge has ruled for Southern Methodist University over the South Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church in a lawsuit over who controls the Dallas school.

The jurisdictional conference sued SMU in December 2019, soon after SMU’s trustee board changed the school’s articles of incorporation, eliminating rights spelled out for the jurisdictional conference, including approval of trustee appointments and real estate transactions.

The jurisdictional conference sought a jury trial, but the proceedings never got that far.

After more than a year of lawyers’ filings and counter filings, leading to a court record of thousands of pages, Dallas Civil District Court Judge Maricela Moore last month dismissed by summary judgment the jurisdictional conference’s remaining claims.

Both the jurisdictional conference and Texas Conference Bishop Scott Jones, who intervened on the jurisdictional conference’s side, are appealing their lower court defeat to the Dallas-based Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas.

 

[jovs]

I know this is the basketball board, and I know football drives realignment, but I don't see why SMU is a significantly worse pick than TCU was when they joined the Big 12 years ago.

If SMU really wants to put a focus on athletics I would think they would be a better choice long term, lots of big money support at that school.