In an era of unprecedented change in college sports, the Big 12 is doubling down on its leader.
Big 12 presidents and chancellors have agreed to a three-year extension on commissioner Brett Yormark’s contract, a source confirmed to Front Office Sports. Yormark originally signed a five-year deal when he was first hired in 2022, but now, his contract will run until 2030 rather than 2027.
ESPN first reported the news.
Financial terms of the deal were not reported, though the source noted the contract was an extension of the previous deal, rather than a completely new one. Yormark earned $1.2 million in 2023, according to the Big 12’s most recently available tax filings, with about $75,000 in extra related compensation.
Challenging the Status Quo
Yormark arrived in 2022 as an outsider in college sports—his previous postings were with Roc Nation and the Brooklyn Nets. In his three years at the helm of the Big 12, however, Yormark has steered the conference through innumerable changes, becoming known as an aggressive leader unafraid to lean in to the professionalization of college sports.
He secured stability with a media-rights extension with ESPN and Fox in the fall of 2022, leapfrogging the Pac-12, whose media-rights deal was up one year before the Big 12’s. Then, in the summer of 2023, he pounced on the Pac-12 breakup, adding Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arizona State to the conference. Yormark also picked up the work of previous commissioner Bob Bowlsby in helping realize the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Yormark has reportedly been considering other innovations, including a league naming-rights deal and taking private equity capital. He’s also considered more radical expansion ideas, like adding basketball powerhouse UConn.
Now he’ll lead the conference through the upcoming revenue-sharing era (if the House settlement is approved) as well as the next iteration of the CFP.
