Big 12’s Brett Yormark says conference spoke with two other schools about expansion
Brett Yormark had a busy first year as Big 12 commissioner.
Since he started on Aug. 1, 2022, Yormark renegotiated the Big 12’s media rights deal, added games to be played in Mexico and expanded conference membership to 16 schools.
Technically, the Big 12 officially enticed Arizona, Arizona State and Utah to join Colorado in leaving the Pac-12 a few days after Yormark’s one-year anniversary as commissioner.
But Yormark had conversations with those schools before Aug. 1, and, while on the “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast,” he admitted to talking with two other schools, as well.
“I did have conversations with UConn and Gonzaga and, unfortunately, things didn’t work out only because the dream scenario unfolded for us,” Yormark said. “So those conversations are no longer. I’m a big admirer of both those programs. They’re fantastic for all the right reasons.
“But right now I’m focused on the transition of those four in right now. And also how do I leverage the fact that I’m now a 16-team league in 10 states with 90 million people in four different time zones? So that’s my focus right now.”
Yormark said the Big 12 was done with expansion, so UConn and Gonzaga won’t be joining the league. Ditto for any of the remaining “Pac-4” schools: Cal, Stanford, Oregon State or Washington State.
When he took over as Big 12 commissioner, Yormark said there were three big-picture items he wanted to address.
“One, we wanted to do our TV deal, and go out early, stabilize the conference, and give us a foundation for the future,” he said. “Two, we wanted to resolve the Oklahoma and Texas situation. When I was introduced effectively on my first day, that was a big issue. Would they leave a year early or not? And what that relationship might look like going forward.
“And then the last of the three items was expansion. Could we set ourselves up for future expansion? My board had an appetite to pursue that. Those were the three things we wanted to do. We accomplished all three in my first year. And when we thought about expansion, it was about getting into a fourth time zone. It was about potentially heading west. I was very intentional about it.”
Talk with Pac-12 commissioner
The Big 12 did indeed go West, adding the Four Corners schools.
Yormark said he had a “knot in his stomach” about poaching four of the Pac-12’s schools. He also revealed what he said to Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff.
“I texted George, reached out to him. Obviously, he was busy,” Yormark said. “He and I spoke last week. And effectively I said. ‘Hey, I’m sorry, it came down to this. And I’m sorry I put you in a tough position, but this was something that we had to do. And this was something that the board and our key stakeholders encouraged. And I’m sorry that my gain is your loss.’
“And we had a very collegial conversation. George was fantastic, and I’ll be seeing him again in a couple of weeks at some industry meetings.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 9:55 AM.
