Tag: Brett Yormark

‘They’ll be here through the duration’: Big 12 commissioner on timing of OU-Texas SEC exit

Speaking with the media at Big 12 basketball media days, Brett Yormark discussed Oklahoma and Texas are committed to the Big 12 through the current media grant of rights agreement.

The Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns will one day make the move to the SEC. Since the landmark announcement in the Summer of 2021, the lingering question has been, when?

The current grant of rights agreement between the Big 12 and their television partners runs through the 2024-2025 school calendar. However, it’s been assumed that Oklahoma and Texas would negotiate a buy-out of their contracts to make an early exit for their new athletic home.

Speaking to the media at Big 12 basketball media days, Brett Yormark described that the two schools are committed to staying through the end of the current grand of rights agreement.

“They’ve committed themselves in advance of me getting here and they’ve reiterated that commitment,” Yormark said at Big 12 basketball media days. “So, they’ll be here through the duration.”

That seems about as clear as it could be that the Sooners and the Longhorns have two more seasons after this one in the Big 12.

Next year, the conference will welcome four new members as BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF take the conference from 10 to 14 schools. Yormark said in his media session that the conference will not implement divisions. Instead, each team will play all 14 members over a two-year period.

While the SEC move may not come as early as some would like, at least there’s a chance we’ll have this to look forward to in 2023 or 2024.

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Big 12 Conference looking at potential West Coast expansion

The Big 12 could potentially poach a few Pac-12 schools.

Conference realignment has been one of the major talking points in the college football world for quite some time now. Texas and Oklahoma are heading to the SEC and USC and UCLA are moving to the Big Ten.

The Big 12 responded to losing Texas and Oklahoma by announcing the addition of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. League commissioner Brett Yormark is looking toward the West Coast for potential expansion.

“Obviously going out West is where I would like to go. Entering that fourth time zone. A program that has national recognition. One that competes at the highest level in basketball and football, stands for the right things, is a good cultural fit.”

Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are obvious candidates to join the Big 12. The conference could even look northward to Oregon and Washington if it wants to expand its national footprint.

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7 teams the Big 12 should target in next round of college football realignment

Conference realignment is a story that never ends, and with the Big 12 considering expansion, here are seven teams they should consider.

While NIL and the transfer portal have had huge impacts on the landscape of college football, nothing has changed the sport more than conference realignment.

A decade ago, when Nebraska, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Missouri left the Big 12 it upset the apple cart of college football. Texas and Oklahoma followed by USC and UCLA, leaving their Power Five conferences  for greener pastures has turned over the tables.

The moves over the last year have put the SEC and Big Ten at the forefront of college football, leaving the ACC and Big 12 behind in college football’s version of the Monday Night Wars. The ACC and the Big 12 have solid foundations even if they don’t have the same media rights bargaining position as the SEC and Big Ten. The Pac-12 looks like the conference that is on the flimsiest foundation with the Big Ten and Big 12 lurking.

New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has been open about the conference’s desire to expand. Not long after the USC-UCLA announcement, it was reported that the Big 12 was looking to add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Things have slowed down since as the Pac-12 entered a 30 day window to open negotiations on their media right deal, but the interest from the Big 12 is still there.

And if they were able to, they’d be interested in adding Oregon and Washington, though the Big 12 will have to contend with the Big Ten for those northwestern powers.

As conference realignment continues to reshape the future of college football, let’s take a look at seven schools the Big 12 should target in conference expansion.

‘I always look for a win-win scenario’: Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark open to OU-Texas early exit talks

Speaking to the media on day one Big 12 media day, new commissioner Brett Yormark shared that he’s open to talks on Oklahoma’s SEC exit.

The biggest question facing college football since the news broke that Oklahoma and Texas would be leaving the Big 12 for the SEC has been when they would make that move official.

Media rights obligations have the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns contractually bound to the Big 12 through the 2024 season. However, the prevailing thought is it wouldn’t take that long for the Red River Rivals to make their move to the SEC.

In the last couple of months, a report from The Athletic stated that the Sooners and Longhorns were eyeing a move in 2024. That timeline would make sense, considering 2024 is the first year of the new media rights agreement between the SEC and ESPN. Coming on board before that would mean a restructuring of the dollars allocated to the SEC to include Oklahoma and Texas.

The thing that has always made the most sense is a buyout agreement that allows the outgoing Big 12 schools to make the move prior to the media rights agreement concluding.

Speaking to the media at Big 12 media days, incoming Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark indicated he would be open to a discussion with Texas and Oklahoma that would result in a win-win for both sides of the negotiation.

“They’ve been very gracious with me. They were part of the process of me getting hired,” Yormark shared on his relationship with administration at Oklahoma and Texas. “So, I appreciate the support that I received but any situation like this, I always look for a win-win scenario. That being said, it’s important that whatever happens is in the best interest of this conference. But I look forward, at the right time, to have those conversations.”

The issue will certainly be timing and money. What’s in the best interest of the Big 12, and namely the Big 12’s new commissioner is coming to an agreement with the outgoing schools that brings in the most money for the remaining member schools. Whatever buyout Yormark negotiates will have to reflect what the conference could have earned from having the two outgoing schools as part of the Big 12 until 2025 and probably a little bit more to provide extra incentive for the remaining Big 12 members to approve the early exit.

Yormark enters the fray at an interesting time in the history of college football and with the Big 12 in a pretty solid state moving forward. With a new media rights agreement on the horizon for the conference and the pending departures of Oklahoma and Texas, how Yormark handles these two negotiations will determine the strength and longevity of the conference moving forward.

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According to CBS Sports, Big 12 looking to add as many as 6 Pac-12 teams in realignment

The Big 12 is not sitting back on this one. According to a report from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, the Big 12 is in “deep discussions” to add anywhere from four to six Pac-12 teams.

The time to sit back and be patient is beyond the Big 12. A conference that has lost twice in the conference realignments of the last decade can’t afford to sit on its hands while the pieces are moved around the board by the Big Ten and the SEC.

USC and UCLA heading to the Big Ten has set off an expansion arms race in college football where the Big 12, Pac-12, and ACC are looking for a way to maintain whatever foothold they have left.

And the Big 12 is taking a big swing.

According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, in addition to Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State, the Big 12 is looking at the potential of adding two more schools in realignment talks.

The Big 12 is involved in deep discussions to add multiple Pac-12 programs as a way to shore up its membership in the wake of the USC and UCLA defection to the Big Ten, sources tell CBS Sports. At least four teams are being considered with the potential for the Big 12 to add more as realignment continues to shake out.

Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah were mentioned specifically as the teams being targeted by the Big 12, sources tell CBS Sports. There is also consideration of adding Oregon and Washington to make the Big 12 an 18-team league, the largest in the FBS. – Dodd, CBS Sports

The four that have been discussed make a ton of sense. If they can land Oregon and Washington, two of the 25 most valuable schools in the country according to a Forbes report in 2019, that would be a huge win for the Big 12.

New Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark doesn’t start officially until August 1. If the conference is able to land the six proposed teams mentioned, the Big 12 will reassert their place in the college football power structure.

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