Hill recently said he thinks the Pac-12 is starting to slip behind other conferences when it comes to revenueUniv. Of Utah
Utah AD Chris Hill will retire at the end of May after three decades on the job, but the university has "yet to officially begin searching" for his replacement, according to Aaron Falk of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. Utah President Ruth Watkins is "in the process of forming a search committee to vet potential hires." Among the tasks a new AD will face is Rice-Eccles Stadium "getting a makeover, possibly as early" as '21. Another issue is that Pac-12 Networks "continues to be a disappointment." A recent analysis showed each Pac-12 school received about $2.5M from the network, which lags behind the nearly $8M that the Big Ten and SEC distributed to each of its schools. Hill: "That has got to be solved. As a league, we're starting to slip behind in finances." Hill said of Pac-12 Networks payouts: "I don't see it changing much until the contract is up (after '23-24)." Falk wrote Utah's move to the Pac-12 in '10 was a "game-changer" for the athletics program, as the school went from about $31M in athletics revenue in FY '10 to more than $80M in revenue in FY '17. But Hill said that increase alone is "not enough." Hill: "You're either going up or you're going down. Where do we go from here with the Pac-12? I think we've established ourselves as a solid program that can do some good things. But are you making the moves to get to the highest level and be a true national player and a national champion in different sports? It's a big challenge. I'm hoping there won't be complacency" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 4/221).
