he is the guy charged with managing the business of the PAC12 conference athletics so the buck does essentially stop with him. You are correct that he does not have the power to turn down ESPN solely on his own BUT, he does have the ability to influence the thinking of the Presidents who rely on him to give them an honest, objective and complete evaluation of the business alternatives. He may have done that when he originally sold them the idea of the PAC12 Network as it currently exists but, with the benefit of hindsight the initial set up was a mistake and the argument can be made that his subsequent advice has been all about protecting/defending his original advice and maintaining his position and power as opposed to providing an objective evaluation. He is a lot like the spineless Mike Tranghese who in the waning years of the Big East was more concerned with his ties and position than rocking the boat by challenging the small catholic basketball schools as to the real conference realities. We see how that played out for the Big East and it appears the PAC12 sequel is headed down a similar path with a slight plot difference.