Twelve days ago, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff stepped to the stage at the conference's annual football media day oozing with confidence about his conference’s impending television deal.

The longer the Pac-12 waits, the better its potential suitors get, he said.

The patience of his presidents will, in the end, pay off, he claimed.

The deal will be good enough to keep intact the 10 school members, he bellowed.

“I saw his comments and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” one TV executive told Yahoo Sports. “Either he’s the greatest poker player or he’s just bluffing.”

On Tuesday morning, as Pac-12 executives met virtually to, finally at long last, see details of the conference’s potential television deal, no rabbit appeared from a hat.