Big 12 commissioner details changes coming to conference in hopes of growing revenue
.JPG "Incoming Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark speaks during a news conference opening the NCAA college football Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (AP Photo/LM Otero)")
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is spending his first days in Kansas City at the annual women’s and men’s basketball media days at T-Mobile Center.
And he’s promising upgrades.
More revenue from television contracts, modernization of the basketball tournaments and more.
“There’s enormous opportunity for this conference,” Yormark said.
Such positive visions aren’t surprising from Yormark, hired in August to replace the retiring Bob Bowlsby. Yormark’s strengths in previous stops at Roc Nation, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment and NASCAR were steeped in the building of brands.
The bottom line of Yormark’s plans for the league is the bottom line. The Big 12’s football television contracts with ESPN and Fox end in the 2024-25 school year. That’s also the year Texas and Oklahoma are expected to leave the Big 12 for the SEC.
Bowlsby said in 2021 that losing the Sooners and Longhorns are worth about 50 percent of the current Big 12 contract. Yormark said the Big 12, which distributed a record $43 million to each school this year, will not lose money on its next contract.
“I know the media stated with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma our number would go backwards,” Yormark said. “Let me say very clearly we’re not going backwards, and we’re not staying flat. We’ll go up. The question is, how far up?
“We will grow revenue, when you think about our multi-media rights deal. Beyond that we need to diversify our revenue.”
The Big 12 would like to have a TV deal done before the current deal expires.
“If we don’t do a deal now, it’s OK,” Yormark said. “In 16 months we’ll get back at it and we’ll work through that exclusive negotiating period.”
One source of additional revenue will come from the basketball tournaments. Expect to pay more for your ticket. The men’s event will remain at T-Mobile Center through 2027, and the women’s tournament will move to T-Mobile after one more season in Municipal Auditorium.
“We haven’t changed prices in 10 years, so we gotta raise prices,” Yormark said. “We are going to move the media. That court side seating will now be extended to our fans. We’re going to use music, provide some premium hospitality offerings for the first time here.
“When women come here next year, hopefully we’ll double down on some of those changes.”
More changes are coming in schedules. When Houston, Brigham Young, Cincinnati and Central Florida arrive for the 2023-24 schools year, the Big 12 will be a 14-team conference but will continue to play a nine-game schedule. Over a two-year people, each school will play each other at least once.
Yormark said rivalries like Kansas State-Kansas, Oklahoma State-Oklahoma and Baylor-TCU will be preserved.
Basketball will play an 18-schedule likely similar to the SEC model, where a team plays a home-and-home against five opponents and the eight others once each. In tournament play, the double first-round bye for the top four seeds is the probable format.
That will happen for two years, as long as Texas and Oklahoma remain in the league. Yormark said the league is planning on having 14 teams through 2025.
“My conversations with Oklahoma and Texas has always been about being great members until they leave, which is in 2025,” Yormark said. “My experiences have been very positive so far.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 1:42 PM.