Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff downplayed the recent rumors of schools in the conference leaving for the Big 12 at Pac-12 Media Day in Las Vegas.

The state of the Pac-12 is rocky at the moment. The conference has been unable to secure a suitable TV contract for its media rights. USC and UCLA are exiting for the Big Ten next summer, which will put a dent in the Pac-12’s revenue. Amid these concerns, some schools in the conference have reportedly considered other options.

Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State are all linked to rumors suggesting a future move to the Big 12. George Kliavkoff isn’t worried however.

“I see the commitment all of our schools have to each other. I also kind of know where the sources of that is coming from,” Kliavkoff said. “I discount that because I know the truth.”

This reassurance comes as a relief for the Pac-12 if it’s true. The conference really needs to keep its core together to recover from the loss of the Los Angeles market. Ideally, they will be able to add a couple of schools to replace USC and UCLA, rather than lose more teams.

This year’s Pac-12 Media Day came at a poor time for the conference. The Pac-12 just hasn’t resolved all of its issues yet and Kliavkoff didn’t have all the answers. Other conferences expected the Pac-12 to be ready to announce its new TV deal by this weekend, but they kicked it down the road again.

Kliavkoff is confident they’ll get it worked out soon but could only repeat the same party line. “We’ll get our media rights deal done, we’ll announce the deal. I think the realignment that’s going on in college athletics will come to an end for this cycle,” he said.