Big 12 Spring Meetings Center CFP Expansion and Private-Capital Deal

FRISCO, Texas — The Big 12 was the final Power 4 conference to conclude its spring meetings Friday, as plenty of questions remain about the future structure and make-up of college sports.

The SEC wrapped its own spring meetings in Destin, Fla., on Thursday. The Big Ten and ACC held their respective gatherings earlier this month.

“I think we are the deepest conference in America,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said after the final board of directors meeting Friday.

College Football Playoff expansion remains the biggest obstacle looming over the sport, with the SEC now the lone holdout preventing transitioning in 2027 to a 24-team model. The Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC all support the changes, but under the current CFP contract, the SEC and Big Ten must agree on any expansion moves. 

What’s next for the CFP, how that’s shaping the power divide among the country’s top conferences, and the impact of the Big 12’s new private-capital deal were among the buzziest topics throughout the week.

Numbers Game

Despite the united front among Big 12 leaders on support for a 24-team CFP, questions about exactly how that will be implemented and what unintended consequences it might have remain.

“I loved four. I like 12,” UCF AD Terry Mohajir told Front Office Sports this week. “And I’m sure I’ll like 16 if it goes to 16.” 

But Mohajir, a former AD at Arkansas State and a member of the CFP selection committee from 2019 to 2021, isn’t completely sold on a 24-team model.

The Big 12 would have had five teams in a 24-team playoff last season, CFP officials told the conference this week. However, the exact formula of a 24-team model for 2027 and beyond has not been solidified.

“Does that mean more access for a Group of 5 league, more access for power conferences,” Mohajir said. “Or does that mean more access from two conferences? Does that mean that a 7-5 team can get in the playoffs because of the perceived strength of schedule? And a 9-3 team from the Big 12 or ACC, does a 7-5 team from the SEC or Big Ten trump them?”

Conference Rankings 

Many Big 12 school and league officials were miffed by the SEC’s breakaway talk this week during private conversations with FOS. 

The SEC actually going off on its own and operating independently from the rest of college sports would not ultimately be a suitable option in their minds, those Big 12 sources said.

The SEC’s confidence stems from its long-held belief that due to the strengths of its teams, each member faces a tougher schedule than teams in other conferences, regardless of records or standings. But it’s that attitude that rubs coaches, fans, and stakeholders from non-SEC leagues the wrong way.

“I know how much they respect their conference,” Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire said Thursday. “They’ve got absolutely great football teams in that conference. I just think that whenever you start saying that, it does discount a lot of the data.”

Texas Tech, the Big 12’s 2025 champion, was the conference’s only team in the CFP last season. BYU fell short after an 11-1 regular season. 

McGuire also publicly challenged Texas to abandon their season-opener against Texas State and instead play Texas Tech—going so far as saying the Red Raiders had already contacted the Cowboys about playing that game at AT&T Stadium.

Money Matters

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is extremely bullish on the new five-year business partnership between the conference and RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital. 

“We felt tapping into their ecosystem had some immediate benefits,” Yormark told FOS this week.

RedBird last year helped broker the Big 12’s $100 million deal with PayPal, and will now be involved in more revenue-generating searches as an official conference partner. 

The Big 12 this month reported record revenue of $610.9 million for the 2024–25 fiscal year, which ranked last among the Power 4 conferences. The Big 12 is projecting revenue of roughly $710 million this year, Yormark said Friday. 

The private capital deal could also be influential in the Big 12’s next media-rights negotiations in 2030, sources told FOS. That’s because RedBird was a primary financial backer of SkyDance Media’s takeover of CBS Sports parent company Paramount, which is now merging with TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, pending regulatory approval.

ESPN and Fox’s $2.28 billion Big 12 media rights deals run through the 2030–31 college sports season. Once the conference goes to market, sources expect CBS Sports—and potentially TNT Sports—to be another suitor for the Big 12, given the current relationships.

Meanwhile, no Big 12 team has yet said it plans to utilize the option for a line of credit up to $30 million, as part of the RedBird deal, with many school sources citing the high interest rates (believed to be in the double-digits) as a deterring factor. 

While specific financial details of how schools would pay back that loan are unclear, one source told FOS that RedBird capped its returns in order to give “material returns” to the schools. 

A RedBird spokesperson previously told FOS that the partnership “is much bigger than just capital to schools—it’s a commercial partnership where RedBird and Weatherford are delivering commercial revenue to the Big 12.” RedBird had no further comment for this story.

Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.