Big 12 has plenty to celebrate heading into 2023 season
ARLINGTON — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark took center stage at the conference’s football media event at AT&T Stadium Wednesday, calling it a big moment for the league as it welcomed four new members: BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.
In the 11 months Yormark has been commissioner of the Big 12, he’s helped steer the conference through uncertain times. Under his leadership, he helped secure a new media rights deal with ESPN and FOX worth $380 million a year that could pay schools anywhere from $30 to $50 million annually through 2031. Figures that few believed the league could secure with Texas and Oklahoma departing to the SEC in 2024.
Yormark didn’t waste any time spearheading several new initiatives, including launching Big 12 Mexico, which brings athletic events to Mexico City and Monterrey. The league also is undergoing a brand refresh and continues to work with legislators on Capitol Hill toward possible name, image and likeness laws.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark talks media rights deal, expansion
Riding that wave of momentum, Yormark sees this season as a celebration.
“I’m excited about this season,” Yormark said. “It’s going to be a year of celebration. We’re going to celebrate our continuing eight. We’re going to celebrate our new four and we’re going to celebrate Texas and Oklahoma and all the contributions they’ve made to this conference since Day 1 because they will always be a big part of this conference.”
The Big 12’s re-emergence couldn’t come at a better time, with the Big Ten and SEC using multi-billion media rights deals to create a separation between themselves and the rest of the Power Five leagues. The ACC has spent the spring dealing with a growing unsatisfaction among some of its members toward its long-term media rights deal, while the Pac-12 has struggled to keep its membership together as it works on a new TV agreement.
“I’m not competing with the other Power Five conferences,” he said. “I want the Big 12 to be the best version of ourselves. If we can do that, we’re in a great place. It’s not about ranking us within the Power Five, but I can tell you this: There’s been no better time to be a part of the Big 12 than now. This thing is going to grow.”
TCU AD Jeremiah Donati has been impressed with what Yormark has done in his short period.
“He’s incredibly ambitious,” said Donati. “He said it here a year ago that we’re open for business and he was going to be a bold, innovative and thoughtful leader and a year into it; he’s proven that he is. We ADs, we just kind of marvel at him because he’s got a lot of ideas, but he would be the first to tell you he doesn’t know it all.”
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Yormark’s outlook on the future is shared by many of those in the league.
“The Big 12 Conference has made a lot of significant moves and one of them was right off the bat with the television contract,” said BYU AD Tom Holmoe. “There was some incredible strategy and timing. Those are all factors and many more that have put the Big 12 in a position where the perception is that they got their act together and things are good.”
TCU coach Sonny Dykes has been around the Big 12 since his days as an assistant coach at Texas Tech from 2000-06. He won Coach of the Year honors after guiding the Horned Frogs to the National Championship Game last season.
“What began to happen last year for the Big 12 to submit its legacy and to rise to the top of college football, we’ve got to not only get people in the College Football Playoff, but we have to win games,” said Dykes. “Certainly, beating Michigan [in the Fiesta Bowl] was a step in the right direction. Sure, getting kicked by Georgia [in the title game] probably didn’t help, but it was a step in the right direction and a good beginning and the rest of the league is certainly capable of doing it as well.”