George Kliavkoff

George Kliavkoff (born 1967) is an American college athletic administrator. He is the commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference, a position he has held since 2021. Kliavkoff has a diverse professional background in the sports and entertainment landscape, holding positions at Major League Baseball, NBCUniversal, Hulu, A&E Networks and โ€” most recently prior to his Pac-12 appointment โ€” MGM Resorts International.[1]

George Kliavkoff
Current position
TitleCommissioner
ConferencePac-12
Biographical details
Born1967
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
2021-presentPac-12 (commissioner)

Early life and education

Kliavkoff attended Boston University, graduating in 1989 where he was a member of the ๐›ซ๐šบ fraternity, ฮผฯˆ chapter, and participated in rowing. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia in 1993.[2]

Career

Kliavkoff launched his professional career as a lawyer before pivoting to a long line of positions in sports and entertainment. After four years at RealNetworks, he joined Major League Baseball in 2003 as an executive vice president for business with MLB Advanced Media. After three years in MLB, he became the chief digital officer for NBCUniversal where he helped launch Hulu. He moved to Hearst Communications in 2009 where he would spend seven years. In 2016, he was named CEO of Jaunt XR, a virtual reality content studio.

In 2018, Kliavkoff settled in Las Vegas and was named president of entertainment and sports at MGM Resorts International. He served on a number of Las Vegas-based boards including the WNBA, T-Mobile Arena, Cirque du Soleil and BetMGM.[3]

Pac-12 Conference

On May 13, 2021, Kliavkoff was announced as the Pac-12's choice to replace outgoing commissioner Larry Scott.[4] He assumed the role on July 1, 2021, which began a five-year contract.[5] University of Oregon president Michael H. Schill led the five-person search committee and described Kliavkoff as "the new prototype for a sports commissioner."[6]

Kliavkoff inherited an embattled conference that faced issues with contentious campus relationships, lack of representation in the College Football Playoff, reports of irresponsible conference office spending[7][8] and shrinking television rights revenues due to the poor performance of the Pac-12 Network.[9]

Kliavkoff entered college sports for the first time in a rapidly changing space, with his start date coinciding with the beginning of the Name, Image and Likeness era.

Kliavkoff led an effort to form an Alliance between the Pac-12, the Big Ten and the ACC. It was announced on August 24, 2021, with the intention of creating non-conference scheduling opportunities and stabilizing membership.[10] The Alliance, however, would later become a target of criticism for lacking any formal agreement and not preventing conference defections.[11]

On March 29, 2022, the Pac-12 announced a shift to remote work from its employees in an effort to reduce high rent costs in San Francisco.[12]

One day shy of Kliavkoff's one-year anniversary as commissioner of the conference, Pac-12 mainstays USC and UCLA unexpectedly announced intentions to depart for the Big Ten Conference, a move considered "gutting for the future of the Pac-12."[13] With the conference's largest television market now removed, Kliavkoff was characterized as needing a "miracle" to keep the conference alive.[14]

Personal

Kliavkoff grew up in Scarsdale, New York. He and his wife Ellen have two children: Delaney and Henry.[15]

References
  1. "Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff | Pac-12". pac-12.com. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  2. "Pac-12 hires MGM Resorts exec George Kliavkoff as new commissioner". Orange County Register. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  3. Fortuna, Matt. "Pac-12 leader George Kliavkoff has a much bigger commissioner job now than in law school, one he appears well-built to handle". The Athletic. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  4. "Pac-12 hires 'outsider' George Kliavkoff as its new commissioner". Los Angeles Times. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  5. Staff, Aiko Sudijono | (2021-05-14). "George Kliavkoff hired as new Pac-12 commissioner". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  6. "Pac-12's new hire George Kliavkoff 'is the new prototype for a sports commissioner'". Deseret News. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  7. Oregonian/OregonLive, John Canzano | The (2019-03-12). "Canzano: The view from the Pac-12 Conference's Imperial Palace lacks visibility". oregonlive. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  8. "Pac-12 shift from SF offices to work-from-home projects big savings". Awful Announcing. 2022-03-30. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  9. "Pac-12 commissioner search ends in unlikely place (which was entirely predictable): With an MGM Resorts executive". The Mercury News. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  10. Shapiro, Michael. "Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC Announce Conference Alliance". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  11. Coleman, Madeline. "The Alliance Is Getting Mocked Following USC, UCLA Big Ten News". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  12. "Pac-12 Conference announces plans for flexible remote work environment | Pac-12". pac-12.com. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  13. "USC, UCLA approved to move to Big Ten in 2024". ESPN.com. 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  14. "Commentary: George Kliavkoff got burned by USC and UCLA. Now he's chasing a Pac-12 miracle". Los Angeles Times. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  15. "Breadth of experience, including media, attracts Pac-12 to Kliavkoff". www.sportsbusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
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