Charles Fischer

Canzano: Conference Abandons SF Headquarters. I don’t know what your overhead is but the Pac-12 Conference woke up recently and decided $696,000 a month in rent is too steep. That’s what it cost for a couple of floors at 370 Third St. in downtown San Francisco over the last decade. The Pac-12 presidents and chancellors met three weeks ago and debated where to move conference headquarters. “Do we even need a headquarters?” eventually became the question. On Tuesday the Pac-12 informed most of its employees that they can now work from home. A small satellite facility, likely in the suburbs of the Bay Area, will be established for 40 or so employees who require production equipment to do their jobs. There will be no official conference headquarters. Said one staffer: “We were encouraged to live somewhere on the West Coast in the event that we have to gather with our team but we’re going fully remote.” No more parking headaches. No more entry-level employees and interns bunking three to an apartment. Best of all, not another dime in rent paid to Kilroy Realty Corp. The Pac-12 gave away more than $90 million in rent over the last 11 years. Conference commissioner George Kliavkoff deserves credit for putting a stop to it. Some rational, sensical things have happened on his short watch. Eliminating a lavish and unnecessary expense may sound like a no-brainer but I’m celebrating it. The Pac-12 CEO Group is comprised of the presidents and chancellors of the conference members. The leaders have managed the budgets of their own campuses, faced unforeseen challenges, refined distance learning and worked through a pandemic. Work from home? Pac-12 headquarters in downtown San Francisco. I’m kicking myself for not thinking that might be a possibility. I’d considered the sports boom in Las Vegas and that city’s deep ties with Kliavkoff. I’d weighed the geography of the Pac-12 footprint. I’d compared commercial real estate costs and talked with sources internally at the conference who thought Las Vegas or Phoenix made the most sense. I considered all of this while writing multiple columns about it from — ahem — my home. To readers who may have been reading from… duh… their homes. Edgar Allan Poe would love this tale. The Pac-12’s answer was hidden in plain sight, just like the purloined letter Poe once wrote about. The financial benefit to conference members is roughly $7 million in savings per university over the next decade. That by itself is worth celebrating because the media rights revenue projections for Big Ten and SEC double up the Pac-12 in the coming decade. But it’s the wise, measured manner in which this all unfolded that I keep thinking about. Larry Scott, Kliavkoff’s predecessor, alienated his staff. I found a single-spaced six-page letter the other day sent to me by one of his employees. It outlined a long line of petty transgressions, frustrations and offenses. The letter writer noted that one football season Scott stopped the long-standing practice of giving every employee two Rose Bowl tickets as a holiday bonus. The tickets were regularly given to the conference by the bowl game as a perk. According to the letter, Scott told the staff there was a shortage of tickets. Staff members later found out the commissioner gave complimentary Rose Bowl tickets to a group of parents on his son’s soccer team. Kliavkoff must be paying attention. Because he’s been especially inclusive with employees. A few weeks ago in Las Vegas during the Pac-12 basketball tournament I asked the commissioner whether the San Francisco headquarters might be abandoned for a more affordable option. The commissioner reminded me that people’s lives are involved. He sees his employees as people. Many of them have spouses, children and mortgages. Kliavkoff said that the matter was being discussed but he was reluctant to say more. Bottom line, the decision would have a major impact on his staff. Kliavkoff informed his employees directly on Tuesday. Turns out you can save money, please your bosses, do the right thing and value people at the same time. Most of the Pac-12 staff can now work and live wherever they’d like, within reason. Lots of forward-thinking companies are moving in that direction. But it strikes me as I write those two words — forward thinking — is this the new Pac-12?

Here is an idea! In Soccer, they settle their ties with a shootout, which requires skills and strategy that is not used much over the course of a match. For football? Make it a field goal competition; first one to miss, loses. Start with a 40 yarder, and move back five yards, then one yard increments...and both teams kick at the same goal posts. This will place even more value on the placekicker on a team--more than before, and it will cut the time way down.

15-5 Ducks after four innings.

12-4 Ducks after three innings!

10-4 Ducks, after two innings.

The Ducks are jumping on the Dons like you could only dream of with a 10-1 lead after only ONE inning! Beavers and others will doubt Oregon's batting average, but as we reported yesterday....the Ducks RPI is No. 4 and the nation, and No. 3 in Strength of Schedule! Nine of the 11 starters are batting over .300!

I am not sure HOW to read that. Seems kinda strange? Not that I'm anyone to call something else STRANGE?

Punctuation, or the lack of it on Twitter always bugs me. Of Course I get Easily Unhinged... That's how he did it...a leg push off the wall!

If Cota could become a reliable option to get open on 3rd and long...we need "go-to" guy in that regard and his experience would help. Yet Kris Hutson struck me as that type of guy as well. Pretty hard to discern the meaning, as Coach Lanning says that Nix is "Intentional," and I have no idea what that means. A new word in "coachspeak" vocabulary to me!

Wowsa. I did not know that, and it has to set some USC fans back a bit.

Good gosh we need him, and would be a pretty incredible victory for the staff!

Cool! Thanks for bringing this to us, but I wish it was also for the regular season. I want Justin to always have his shot!

We will get ours; once this staff has enough time here--we will do well.

For a six year period....we had humor articles on GameDays by our Beloved Duckpop22, and Axel has revived it a number of times--so fun to see! Below is one of the prior articles... Yes Virginia, There is a Duck | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM S39.photobucket.com Good morning Duck fans! It's Virginia Day for the Mighty Quack, as the Ducks take it on the road for a game about which they can'

Yep. Jacob Hughes has come in now a couple of times during the week, started (vs. Portland and Gonzaga) and done well. What I hoping is that USF doesn't have great pitching depth after playing a three-game series last weekend at Portland, and our bats make it a comfortable set of games.

You can watch the game Live-Stream by going to GoDucks.com, and then to Baseball. Scroll down the schedule and on this day...click on the "Watch" link. Fun! And Axel....you are beginning to create a fan-base of your own! (Count me in!)

Justius Lowe is the massive sleeper that I've been promoting since I saw his tape--before he even verballed to us. This is someone who can truly stretch the defense, and has a tremendous "football" speed.

Looking at those numbers....that is absolutely true. Whew!

No sweat. We can all have different opinions here, share them and remain civil. So different opinions are welcomed and needed--thanks for your feedback!

I wonder if Maddie Scherr ends up at Florida State? Micah Pittman

Not a surprise, and next year's team will sure look different! Thanks for posting McDuck.

Whoa! I was wrong about 21st...as it depends upon which poll. But Our Beloved Ducks are BACK!

Something special is building at PK Park!

This is where I need an emoji that has a man standing on a chair applauding...because THAT is epic! I am going to use that...and credit Steven A!

Hey Nevada Dawg--great post, and I gave you a new Georgia helmet avatar to let everyone know that you are NOT a Husky, but a Bulldog. I learned about the move back to what you are good at on defense for the 'Natty, and wrote an article about it recently. Any further input you have about Coach Lanning, or anything, anytime is welcome here.