Pac-12 Football Media Day is scheduled for Friday at the Novo Theater in Los Angeles.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff will take the stage and try to shift the narrative on the state of the conference. Fox and ESPN are in an exclusive 30-day negotiating window with the Pac-12 that expires on Aug. 4.

I wondered how much Kliavkoff might know and be able to share on that front. So I reached out to Bob Thompson, the former president of Fox Sports Networks, for an answer.

Said Thompson: “He’s probably got a number from ESPN at this point. Is it their best, last, final? Probably not. But given there’s about a week to go they’ve got to be honing in on it.”

Thompson said the Pac-12 should also have an idea about the interest of other television and streaming bidders who aren’t involved in the exclusive window.

“Nothing precludes the others from reaching out or back-channeling their interest to the conference or most likely to the conference’s television consultant,” he said. “So he probably has a good idea who else out there might be interested.”

On whether a deal will get done before Aug. 4?

“I personally don’t think a deal is going to be done in the exclusive window unless it’s some kind of blow-me-away offer from ESPN,” Thompson said. “I think the conference will be wise and want to see who is on the outside looking in when the Big Ten option ends. There’s going to be some folks who expressed an interest in collegiate football who aren’t going to get it in the Big Ten deal.”

On potential expansion targets for the Pac-12:

“Certainly San Diego State and the San Diego market would be attractive,” Thompson said. “I kind of go back and forth after that between Las Vegas, Fresno and Boise. They’re almost interchangeable. None of them blow you away from a market standpoint. There’s not a real clear second partner for the Pac-12. Beyond that, you could go to SMU or try to poach the University of Houston before they get into the Big 12.”

On San Diego State:

“There’s no doubt in my mind that San Diego State is the No. 1 target — without a doubt — should they decide to go forward with expansion.”

Thompson is going to join me today at 3:45 p.m. PT on my statewide radio show in Oregon. Tune in on 750-AM (Portland), 1050-AM (Eugene), 960-AM (Klamath Falls), 1490-AM (Roseburg), stream the show or listen the podcast after it posts.

UNIFIED FOR NOW:

The prevailing sentiment among the six Pac-12 athletic directors I’ve communicated with in the last two weeks is that the remaining 10 members of the conference feel like they’re in this together.

One told me, early on: “We have good options.”

Another said: “George is kicking ass.”

A third offered: “As long as Washington and Oregon stay in the fold, we’re going to be fine.”

A fourth said: “Phil Knight could help this. Even if it’s rhetoric, Phil Knight being supportive of the Pac-12 staying together would be meaningful.”

I’ve wondered whether unequal distributions of revenue from the conference might be on the table. To this point, I don’t have a good answer. Media rights distributions have mostly been even. There was a small provision in the last media deal that gave small bonuses to programs that appeared more frequently on ABC. But everyone got the same base distribution.

It’s partially what drove UCLA and USC into the arms of the Big Ten, I’m told. I don’t think that will change. But would the Pac-12 reward a member who reached the College Football Playoff by giving it a larger share of the CFP payout? Under the current deal, the bowl payouts are split evenly among the conference members.

I’ll be in Los Angeles for Media Day. I’ll share more in the coming 24-48 hours about what I learn.

I appreciate that you’re here for it.

I saw Pac-12 Conference Commissioner George Kliavkoff an hour before he was scheduled to take the stage at Friday’s Media Day. He was walking alongside Andrew Walker, the conference’s vice president of communications.

Huge day for Kliavkoff and his team.

The conference needs the commissioner to cast a strong figure and change the narrative. That’s his No. 1 duty today. I don’t know how much he’s going to talk about the loss of USC and UCLA to start the day, but if that’s what we’re all talking about at sundown, it amounts to a loss.

Three things Kliavkoff must do:

• UNIFY: Unify the conference. Or at least present that front. The Pac-12 made the decision to hold its athletic director meetings via video conference. One of them, Scott Barnes at Oregon State, was out sick. But I think it may have also been a strategy move, designed to keep the ADs from being interviewed about their respective universities and competing agendas. Kliavkoff needs to pull the remaining 10 members of his conference together.

• INFORM: The public is desperate to get an update on the Pac-12’s quest to land a media rights deal. ESPN and Fox are in an exclusive, 30-day negotiating window. They get to bid first. Kliavkoff is likely to take the rights to market when the period ends on Aug. 4, but we need an update that creates some structure for this process. In the wake of all the unrest and uncertainty, ambiguity isn’t his friend.

• LEAD: Kevin Warren of the Big Ten did a lot of grandstanding as part of his media day events this week. Kliavkoff needs to punch back in measured ways. This is his first true test as commissioner. Kliavkoff needs to exude confidence, strength and vision.

I asked one Pac-12 AD whether unequal revenue sharing might be on the table. Would they split media distributions unevenly among the 10 remaining members? Or maybe give a program that qualifies for the College Football Playoff a larger share of that massive distribution?

The AD said: “We’re not there yet, but I imagine we would not leave anything on table in terms of talking about all revenue distribution models, which btw was going to happen at 12 (teams) too if I had to guess.”

I’m going to update frequently today. For those of you who are subscribed and receive my columns directly in your email in-box in real time, please forgive me in advance. You will receive more than one post from me today. It will be unusual, but I don’t want you to miss a thing.

If you’re reading via JohnCanzano.com, please check back frequently. I’ll update this post as the day unfolds. Refresh. Visit often. And make sure you stay with me on Twitter and Instagram.

The event occupies two floors at the Novo Theater. The print media and TV media that cover the conference have been situated on the third floor. That’s where the main stage sits and the Pac-12 has dressed it up nicely.

Radio row is on the fourth floor. It has a lounge-like vibe, complete with mood lighting, couches, and pillows. When I popped in, shortly before 7 a.m., they were piping jazz music through the speakers.

I’m the only media member who covers the Pac-12 who not only writes a column, but hosts a daily radio show. As a result, I’m set up on both the third and fourth floor and will be running between them for most of the day.

I’ll be present on the third floor at 8 a.m. when Kliavkoff takes the stage, but I’m not likely to ask a question. I have the commissioner 1-on-1 later in the day, and I’ll save them for that fourth-floor setting. Kliavkoff is among the 34 scheduled 1-on-1’s that I have. My statewide radio show 3-6 p.m. today will be a rich experience, but my plan is to also share some of what I learn in those 1-on-1’s with you here.

Chip Kelly? Dan Lanning? Jonathan Smith? Lincoln Riley? Kyle Whittingham?

“Make sure you hydrate,” a friend of mine texted.

LOS ANGELES — George Kliavkoff arrived on the fourth floor of the Novo Theater on Friday afternoon and slid into a plastic chair in a corner of the room.

He’d already delivered a state-of-the-conference speech in front of a packed room. Now, he was ready for our one-on-one interview.

A table covered with black draping sat between us. Flowing, sheen curtain panels hung along the wall. The space — typically used as a night club — was dimly lit, with purple and orange light bulbs. I led with the question that has been on my mind for a while.

“Where were you when you found out?”

The Pac-12 Conference commissioner spent the last month sequestered. Kliavkoff made no public statements. He offered no insight into the defection of USC and UCLA. His conference was poached of those Los Angeles schools, then talked about like it was some kind of truck stop by the Big 12.

All of it, without comment.

“I was in Montana on day two of my first vacation, driving,” he said. “I was in a spot where I had almost no cell service. My deputy commissioner left me two messages saying, ‘You need to get to where you have cell service.’”

Kliavkoff’s next move was to get to his home base in Las Vegas, where he had full use of the resources he’d need to communicate with his bosses. He then decided to go silent “because I could have spent all day, every day on the phone refuting media reports and what I needed to do was get to work.”

Earlier Friday, Kliavkoff received mixed reviews for his performance on the main stage. Some felt the conference commissioner deviated from his message when he quipped, “With respect to the Big 12 being open for business, I appreciate that. We haven’t decided if we’re going shopping there or not yet.”

Others loved that a conference with a black eye and a fat lip punched back.

The pointed remark came as part of the question-and-answer portion of the event. Earlier, in his scripted speech, Kliavkoff had been far more collegial and reserved. But in that moment, he traded his scalpel for a sledgehammer. He later said his frustration stemmed from a month spent defending against grenades launched from every corner of the Big 12.

“I understand why they're doing it,” Kliavkoff said, “when you look at the relative media value between the two conferences. I get it, I get why they’re scared, why they’re trying to destabilize it. I was just tired of that.”

A win for the commissioner?

A loss?

You decide. I’ll wait to see how Kliavkoff performs where it counts — media rights revenue. He’s in an exclusive, 30-day negotiating window with ESPN and Fox. Beyond that, he’ll wait for the Big Ten’s media package to be finalized, then let the market determine what the Pac-12’s rights are worth.

I asked Kliavkoff in our sit down interview whether the Pac-12’s media distributions or access to the College Football Playoff mattered more. Which is more valuable — a pile of money? Or a path to the promised land?

“Both,” he said.

Kliavkoff told me he expects the conference to “absolutely” have access to the playoff. Also, he believes that the Pac-12 will ultimately end up “in the middle” of the Power Five Conferences when it comes to media rights distributions.

He also told me that he could foresee a situation where a university that reaches the playoff, for example, might garner a much larger share of that windfall.

“That type of bonus,” Kliavkoff said, “would incentivize members where it counts.”

Don’t be surprised when that comes true. Also, I think it would extend to the NCAA Tournament units that the league typically splits evenly.

I think what we learned on Friday was that this journey isn’t anywhere near a resolution. It likely won’t be settled until at least September, maybe longer. There’s still some anxious parties. The news of USC and UCLA’s departure dominated the event, sure. But it felt like the Pac-12 changed the conversation some.

I interviewed 34 coaches and players on Friday during media day. I also spoke to a couple of Pac-12 athletic directors and a line of conference employees. Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith jumped from station to station along radio row and told me it felt like going through “a car wash.”

I laughed at that.

I sure needed it.

Some other things overheard at Pac-12 Media Day:

• Stanford coach David Shaw, 3-9 last season, on how he’s feeling about the upcoming football season: “I feel like a tiger in the weeds.”

• Chip Kelly on when he learned UCLA was leaving for the Big Ten: “I was on the 14th hole at a charity golf tournament in New Hampshire. They told me, ‘This is happening in an hour, don’t tell anyone.’”

• Utah QB Cam Rising on the one player he’s happy isn’t in the Pac-12 anymore: “Kayvon Thibodeaux — he presented a problem.”

• Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff on whether UCLA could reverse course and come back to the conference: “We’d welcome them back with open arms.”

• Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on the ability to adapt: “It’s a must, or you get left behind. Whether you like the changes or not, it’s survive or you get left behind.”

• Stanford defensive back Kyu Blu Kelly on his side hustle: “Nobody knows this but I’ve developed a video game. It’s coming out soon.”

• UCLA offensive tackle Jon Gaines II: “I’m a cat person. I have three cats. Dogs are cliche’.”

• Arizona coach Jedd Fisch on college football looking more like a professional league: “It gives us a little bit of an advantage because of our NFL experience. We know what free agency looks like.”

• ASU coach Herm Edwards on the changes in college football: “We thought it was sacred. It’s changing before our eyes and we’re struggling with it.”

• Utah defensive back Clark Phillips III on where he was when he heard that USC and UCLA were leaving the Pac-12: “I was in yoga. I was rolling up my mat and my phone started blowing up.”

• USC coach Lincoln Riley on what he learned from Mike Leach: “A lot of things that aren’t relevant to anything. Mike lives outside the box. I try to think outside the box — once in a while.”

LOS ANGELES — Chip Kelly was playing in a charity golf tournament in New Hampshire when his phone rang with the news that UCLA was defecting to the Big Ten.

“It’s going to happen in an hour,” Kelly was instructed. “Make sure you don’t say anything.”

Kelly’s foursome included close friend and ex-New Hampshire quarterback, Matt Cassano. Also there, recently retired New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell and ex-Nike executive Gary DeStefano.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was in the group behind Kelly, playing with his father-in-law and some others.

“By the time we got to No. 16, everyone in the world knew,” Kelly said.

I talked with Kelly on Friday in Los Angeles about a variety of subjects including his sleep habits, the time he’s spent with Navy SEALs, and how he came out of the new Top Gun: Maverick film ready to hop in a military-grade jet.

“I’d probably pass out,” Kelly said. “I don’t think I could handle the G’s but I’d like to try.”

What Kelly and I didn’t talk about was whether he could handle the whiplash of a possible flip-flop by UCLA. I didn’t ask. In part, because I don’t believe for a moment that the Bruins’ head coach has a say in where UCLA plays in 2024 and beyond. But Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff just might.

I want to stop right here and point out that in no way do I expect UCLA to reverse course and announce it will rejoin the Pac-12. That would require a series of wild events to occur. Also, it would potentially come with a damaging public relations hit to the Bruins. But it’s something I left Media Day thinking about.

Add San Diego State? Poach Baylor or Houston? How about UNLV? There are a variety of options that need exploring. One of them involves the possibility that the Pac-12 might give UCLA second thoughts.

Said one person familiar with the situation: “The not-so-hidden question is UCLA. The Pac-12 won’t move on expansion until that’s decided.”

The Regents of the University of California system may have a say. That mostly feels like political posturing, though. One UCLA official, in fact, told me, “All that is just a bunch of noise.” In the meantime, I wonder whether the Pac-12 is asking bidders on the conference’s media rights to run valuation models that includes UCLA and/or USC staying.

The Bruins are leaving. They announced it. The Big Ten talked about it. They’re gone, right?

“Maybe,” said Kliavkoff on Friday.

Former Fox Sports Networks President Bob Thompson told me that prior to the defections of USC and UCLA, he expected the Pac-12 would sign a media rights deal worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 million a year. That would result in annual distributions of roughly $42 million to each Pac-12 university. In the Big Ten, the Bruins and Trojans are expected to collect a minimum of $72 million a year.

That’s a $30 million-a-year gap, minimally.

Could the Pac-12 go all-in, get creative, sell off the Pac-12 Networks, and cobble together a media rights package that would push above $60 million a year in distributions and give UCLA and/or USC something to think about?

“I’m not going to get into the specifics,” Kliavkoff told me. “What I will say is the UCLA community, I feel bad for. The vast majority of people in that community immediately did not like that decision and I think the longer that decision sticks, the worse they’re going to like it.”

I doubt it happens. The dollars probably won’t be there. UCLA and USC are telling everyone they’ve moved on and I believe them. But the win that Kliavkoff needs most is one that unwinds the defections. If Kliavkoff could pull it off, it would define his legacy.

“I am not predicting that they come back,” Kliavkoff said. “But if they came back, we’d welcome them back.”

Expanding with San Diego State and maybe one or three others is a decent fallback plan. It would aggregate some additional dollars and get the conference back in Southern California. Mining the landscape for new partners, such as Amazon, Apple and Turner is sound strategy, too. There are some new media players at the table and they may have a pile of money to spend with Fox and ESPN gobbling up so much of the Big Ten and SEC. But if the Pac-12 is smart, it’s asking bidders to give them a valuation model that includes USC and UCLA remaining.

Would UCLA stay in the Pac-12 if the potential $30 million distribution gap were whittled down to $10 million-a-year? How heavy would the pressure from alumni, the UC system and non-revenue generating sports feel in that scenario?

Years ago, Chip Kelly announced he was leaving Oregon for the NFL. He was set to become the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was gone. The university was making contingency plans. Then, overnight, Kelly changed his mind and decided to come back for one more year.

It was a Chip-flop.

That was one quirky person, changing his mind, though. A UCLA flip flop would require the unwinding of decisions, and a willingness from the Bruins to withstand some blowback.

Stanford coach David Shaw told me he thinks geography will ultimately win out. Shaw said he believed the traditional Pac-12 universities would one day be re-united. Perhaps, in five years, or maybe a decade, when the media rights deals come up for bid again.

“Who knows what’s going to happen in the next couple of years, but my heart of hearts tells me that in some point of time this will self correct,” Shaw said. “The reason conferences were created were proximity reasons… I do believe in the next round of TV contracts, it will start to go back.”

It sounds like a pipe dream, but I left Friday’s Pac-12 Media Day wondering about UCLA’s next 24 months. USC may leave regardless of the media numbers. But we all noted that Kliavkoff was collegial toward both the Bruins and Trojans in his remarks.

He threw a haymaker at the Big 12, sniped at the Big Ten, and lamented the loss of the “college” part of college athletics. But the commissioner insisted the Bruins and Trojans would continue to be treated as respected members of the conference.

He left the door ajar.

Count Portland State University football coach Bruce Barnum among those wringing their hands over what happens next with major college football.

“I still need money games,” Barnum told me.

The Vikings subsidize the football program — and the rest of the PSU athletic department — by playing a couple of “payday” games every season.

This season, PSU will make $500,000 to play at Washington and another $435,000 to play at San Jose State. In 2023, PSU will collect a $575,000 check for playing at Oregon and another $400,000 to play at Wyoming. In 2024, the Vikings travel to Washington State ($563,000) and San Diego State ($475,000).

That six-game haul: $2,948,000.

Said Barnum: “Am I going to still be able to play the Pac-12 and still be able to get that money?”

The Vikings have a 2-10 record in their last 12 payday games. Both upset victories over FBS opponents came in 2015. PSU knocked off Mike Leach and Washington State 24-17 and then beat North Texas 66-7 the same season. The Vikings went 2-0 and collected a combined $925,000 to play those games.

Incidentally, the 59-point margin of victory vs. North Texas was the most lopsided win in history by a FCS program over an FBS opponent. After the game, North Texas promptly fired coach Dan McCarney.

Barnum is carefully watching the developments in the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12 and thinking about how it might impact — or benefit — his mission. Given the television money pouring into the upper division of college football right now, the market for the payday games may increase.

“That’s the line I’m in,” Barnum said. “I would love to just play one of those games every season. I would love to take one of those games off my docket in the future. I’d like to play only one of them. I’m tired of two games with odds of winning being low. I’ll be in the front of the line, calling anyone who has an open date.”

Barnum said he was approached by Alabama after the 2016 season about possibly playing a payday game in 2019 or 2020. The Crimson Tide were coming off a national championship and noticed Washington’s 41-3 win over PSU on the schedule that season.

Said Barnum: “Washington smacked me in the chops and went to the semifinal of the playoff. So Alabama saw it and said, ‘Well, if Washington can play them and still get to the playoff, we should play them, too.’”

Barnum was already scheduled to play at Arkansas in 2019. He didn’t want to play road games vs. two SEC programs. Well, not unless Alabama was really willing to pay for it.

“I told them, ‘$1.7 million and I’m all yours,’” Barnum said. “I will roll in and not even ask for sandwiches.”

The game was not scheduled.

SHOW TIME: I arrived to Pac-12 Media Day on Friday at 6:45 a.m. and left about 11 hours later. During my trip to Los Angeles, I wrote a few columns (one and two and three) and conducted 34 informative and fun 1-on-1 interviews with coaches, players and the conference commissioner.

We aired 15 of those interviews (one-stop shop) on the statewide radio show on Friday. We’ll play my unaired talks with Arizona State coach Herm Edwards and Arizona coach Jedd Fisch today from 3-6 p.m. I have a pile of leftover interviews with a variety of Pac-12 players from Friday that you will really enjoy.

Also, Pac-12 Network analyst Yogi Roth will join me live today at 3:18 p.m. Listen in Portland (750-AM), Eugene (1050-AM), Klamath Falls (960-AM), Roseburg (1490-AM) or stream the show live.

LISTEN UP: Thrilled to announce that Jon Wilner and I have formed a new alliance. We’ve signed on with Alpha Media and created a podcast — “Canzano & Wilner” — that will cover a variety of topics, including the Pac-12 Conference.

I’ve known Wilner for years and we were co-workers when I covered the NFL and MLB at the San Jose Mercury News. We don’t always agree, but I respect the heck out of the guy. It’s a project we’ve discussed for several months and we’ve now officially launched it with an introductory episode.

We have a lot to say and want you in on it. Subscribe and listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Soundcloud so you don't miss a thing.

The Pac-12 Conference athletic directors are anxiously waiting to see what happens in the next 24 hours. The conference’s 30-day, exclusive negotiating period with ESPN and Fox is set to expire Aug. 4.

The ADs I spoke with said they haven’t seen any potential revenue numbers yet.

Former Fox Sports Networks president Bob Thompson recently told me he’d be shocked if a deal got done with ESPN in the early negotiating window. That dovetails with the remarks from Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff last Friday, who pumped the brakes on the timeline. I left media day thinking it might be early September before we get resolution.

There’s some customary back-channeling going on right now. Consultants are involved. It’s in the conference’s best interest to go slow, allow the Big Ten to set the market, and give some other bidders a chance to weigh in.

Thompson said: “I think the conference will be wise and want to see who is on the outside looking in when the Big Ten option ends. There’s going to be some folks who expressed an interest in collegiate football who aren’t going to get it in the Big Ten deal.”

In the meantime, the athletic directors of the Pac-12’s remaining 10 universities are still communicating regularly and tell me they’re upbeat.

Said one AD, “The dialogue, candor, and environment have been positive. Everyone is moving in the same direction.”

Are there still threats out there?

Sure.

Said the AD: “It’s a singular threat — the Big Ten and the Big Ten only. That’s it. The Big 12 threat is laughable.”

Would the Big Ten decide to further expand and add Oregon and Washington? Or maybe chase Stanford? I’m going to dive deeper into the calculus of that in the coming days. But the prevailing thought is that none of those universities generate enough potential media rights value by themselves to make doing so a no-brainer.

In fact, I floated that Oregon-Washington-Stanford question to a current Big Ten Conference athletic director, who waved it off.

“I think Stanford might be interesting to our conference presidents just because of the academic piece,” he said, “but unless Notre Dame is coming in too, I don’t think further expansion happens in this cycle.”

The Pac-12 mostly laughed off the Big 12 threat last Friday at media day. It makes sense that those two entities are at odds. There’s only so much money in the college football ecosystem. The SEC ate first, now the Big Ten is feasting. The ACC is waiting for 2036, while Pac-12 and Big 12 are left to fight over what’s left.

There have been reports about the Big 12 trying to poach Utah, Colorado, Arizona and ASU. Nobody at those universities seems much interested at this point. The financial advantage just doesn’t appear to be there. But the noise annoyed the Pac-12 anyway.

Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff holds a degree in journalism from Boston University. He told me on Friday that he is frustrated with the Big 12’s tactics.

“It’s incredibly destructive, but that’s why they do it,” he said. “When I was in journalism school we were taught you had to source things from two reliable sources and you can’t run with it until. Now, we’ve got folks in the national media reporting stuff that is on burner Twitter accounts. It’s unfortunate. It’s the world we live in. I don’t have thin skin. I’m OK with this stuff, but it does destabilize people.”

Kliavkoff said that several Pac-12 universities have shared communications they’ve received from the Big 12 and other conferences.

“If they hear something or if someone from a different conference is approaching them, they forward those messages,” he said. “Those are fun to read. I’ve read every single one that has been sent to our conference over the last three weeks. It’s amazing how brazen those other conferences are.”