FRISCO, Texas — Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has a 2030 vision for his conference.
That’s when the Big 12 will be in the market for new media-rights deals, as the current $2.28 billion pacts with Fox and ESPN expire.
“I’m laser-focused on how we can create value,” Yormark told Front Office Sports on Wednesday at the Big 12 spring meetings. “Everything we do now sets us up for 2030. Because we as a conference haven’t really been a free agent in a long time.”
The Big 12 signed those Fox and ESPN deals, which just went into effect last year, in 2022.
“We had to do that because we had to stabilize the conference, and we did it for all the right reasons,” Yormark said. “And we have great partners in Fox and ESPN. Having said that, we’re building right now, and we’re growing, and I feel really good about where we’ll be over the course of the next couple of years, and hopefully we’ll be able to monetize that in the right way come 2030.”
The Big 12 this month reported record revenue of $610.9 million for the 2024–25 fiscal year—but still ranked last among the Power 4 conferences. The Big Ten was first with $1.47 billion, followed by the SEC ($1.11 billion) and ACC ($826.5 million).
CFP Expansion Is Key
Yormark’s plan for the Big 12 includes making the most of a new private-capital deal, more international expansion, and (he hopes) an expanded College Football Playoff.
“I think more access is a good thing,” Yormark said of his recent support for a 24-team CFP. “I also feel that schools are spending an enormous amount of money to build their rosters. And how long can that be sustainable if there’s only 12?”
Should the CFP expand to 24 teams, Yormark is willing to end the annual Big 12 championship game—if the price is right. “I have to look at the value exchange,” he said. “And as I see it today, assuming there’s economic upside, then I’d make that trade.”
Capital Gains
So far, no Big 12 team has said it plans on utilizing the option for a line of credit up to $30 million (which comes with double-digit interest rates) as part of the conference’s new deal with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital.
“What I call the safety net for our schools, if and when they want to use it,” Yormark said. “They know it’s there, and it’s incumbent upon me as the commissioner to provide optionality to our schools. They have a year to tap into it if they want to. If they don’t, that’s perfectly fine. But it’s there if they need it.”
When crafting the deal with RedBird and Weatherford, there was no assumption that any school would use the credit option, according to Yormark.
“I don’t think there was any expectation,” he said. “I think the rationale for doing that part of the deal was to effectively create an insurance policy for our schools, if and when they needed something, and create a safety net. And what they need or want today could be very different in six months. It could be very different in 12 months from now. They have 12 months to tap into it, so we’ll see what happens.”
A RedBird spokesperson previously told FOS: “This 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. We are playing the long game where schools have one year to opt in for when the landscape becomes clearer for the ecosystem and individual needs. It’s not intended to be a one-time offer; it’s a long-term feature of a broader agreement for the Big 12 and their member schools.”
As part of the deal, RedBird has helped land major sponsorships like the Big 12’s deal with PayPal, and the conference has received a $12.5 million capital infusion to aid with revenue generation.
Expanding Borders
In September, the Big 12’s Arizona State and Kansas will play the first college football game in London—the debut of the Union Jack Classic at Wembley Stadium. In August, TCU will host UNC in Dublin for this year’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
“I think we can win globally,” Yormark said. “I really do.”
The Big 12 has been targeting international expansion for several years, initially rolling out a Big 12 Mexico initiative in 2023 that had plans for the conference to play football, baseball, basketball, and women’s soccer games in the country. However, that effort ultimately never got off the ground.
“Mexico is certainly something that I still have a strong appetite for,” Yormark said. “We have not been able to make that work yet. But certainly something that’s still on our radar, because I think it’s a natural extension to our footprint, and we have a lot of schools that want to go there.”
Yormark’s desire for the Big 12 to grow internationally ties into his vision for a more lucrative media-rights deal next decade.
“When I think about our next TV deal, how do we exploit international TV rights, which we’ve never done before? So, the bigger the brand is, the greater presence we have over there, I think the better for us,” Yormark said.
Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.
