The Big 12 has been in the news a little more than usual lately, and not all of it has been positive for the conference. However, it’s being reported that former XFL Commissioner/CEO Oliver Luck is being hired by the collegiate league as a consultant.
That’s good news.
Currently, Luck and former league owner Vince McMahon are locked in a wrongful termination lawsuit that doesn’t seem like will end soon. It’s currently set for trial on October 8th.
It had recently been reported that Luck was in the mix to become the PAC-12 commissioner. Obviously that’s changed, since George Kliavkoff took the position.
Luck has previous ties to the conference, or at least one of its current teams. He was the athletic director at West Virginia from 2010-2014, and then EVP for regulatory affairs with the NCAA before taking his former position with the XFL.
The conference just lost its 2 biggest schools to the SEC – Oklahoma and Texas – once the current naming rights deal expires in 2025. Unless a settlement can be reached that will lessen the $80 million price tag to leave now.
The PAC-12, ACC, and BigTen have been in talks recently about an alliance that could contain shared revenue and scheduling preferences, completely leaving the Big 12 out in the cold.
The conference needed a jolt of positivity. Hiring Luck to hopefully right the ship, and quell the rumors of the AAC poaching some of the remaining schools.
Luck being around should set things straight, but there’s still work to he done to stay in the Power 5.
