The college football landscape is dramatically changing and even though the attention has mainly been on conferences loading up with more teams, there are other major conferences attempting to strengthen their base.
The Big 12, victims of Oklahoma and Texas announcing their departure a year ago, is enterting a time where soon-to-be Commissioner Brett Yormark is in damage control and base-building mode.
Even though he doesn’t take his post until August 1, Yormark was at the start of Big 12 Media Days. He made sure it was know that the conference is ready for money.
“There is no doubt the Big 12 is open for business.”
While he said that he is “not paying attention” to what others are doing, he did say that the conference was looking at everything.
“Exploration and optionality is at the forefront of what we are focused on,” Yormark said. “Anything considered must be additive and not dilutive.”
The crux of his issue with the conference will come down to media rights and their payout to member institutions. He said he is working hard to make the conference even more profitable. In 2020, the conference distributed $38 million to each school.
To increase that, he’s bracing everyone in the conference to go all-in for upcoming negotiations for a new media rights deal in 2025.
“Everything we do must create momentum for these negotiations,” Yormark said.
Will the conference add even more members? For television revenue to go up, especially in the wake of losing Texas and Oklahoma, the answer is probably yes but Yormark says he has taken plenty of calls and won’t stop there.
“We will leave no stone unturned to drive value for the conference,” Yormark said.
