Yormark, Campbell Fight Over Who Runs Big 12: ‘He Is Not the Dictator’

Two of the most powerful people in college sports are openly attacking each other by name in the media.

Cody Campbell, the billionaire chair of the Texas Tech board of regents, criticized the Big 12 this week for forcing his Red Raiders team—which he has transformed into a national powerhouse with millions of dollars in NIL money—to play on a Friday night this fall.

“Friday Night Lights are sacred in the Great State of Texas!” Campbell tweeted Monday, referring to the popularity of high school football in the state. He called a possible Friday game between Texas Tech and Houston “absolutely absurd” and tagged the Big 12 commissioner: 

“I know that @brettyormark is not a native Texan, but he’s been here long enough to know better!”

Yormark shot back in a story published Thursday morning.

“Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12,” Yormark told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “Our Board and our ADs approved playing 12 games a year off of Saturdays in an effort to raise the profile, narrative, and viewership of Big 12 Football. Texas Tech hosting a primetime game on Friday night delivers that.”

Campbell’s response? He is part of the group that does run the Big 12.

“As commissioner, he needs to remember that he works for the Presidents, and the Presidents work for the Boards,” Campbell told Front Office Sports on Thursday. (Campbell is the chairman of the Texas Tech system board of regents.) “He is not the dictator of the conference. That’s not his role. It is his responsibility to advocate for his members in all cases.”

After the Avalanche-Journal story ran Thursday morning, Campbell joked on X/Twitter: “Apparently Brett didn’t get the memo: EVERYTHING RUNS THROUGH LUBBOCK!!” Texas Tech won its first Big 12 football title last year before losing in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

‘Saving College Sports’?

Campbell—who made his billions in oil and gas and is an advisor to Donald Trump—has been at odds with power conference commissioners Tony Petitti of the Big Ten and Greg Sankey of the SEC for the better part of a year. Campbell’s organization has been called out by power conference commissioners before, but Yormark going after Campbell by name in the media represents something of an escalation. 

Through his group, Saving College Sports, Campbell has been pushing his pet idea in the media and the halls of Congress: The power conferences should pool their media-rights deals. According to Campbell, this would generate more revenue than the existing setup, where conferences strike individual deals with rights holders, and that revenue would then fund supposedly endangered women’s and college sports. 

Campbell bought TV ad time last fall during college football games that featured him saying, “To conference commissioners, it’s all about money and control,” and “their greed is bankrupting all but the biggest schools.” Fox and ABC declined to air the ads until the language against the commissioners was softened.

The SEC and Big Ten have refused to get on board with Campbell’s scheme, which they called “well-intentioned but misguided.” They sent a study to politicians in February that they claimed proved it is “likely to reduce revenue over the long term.”

Campbell’s idea has gained some traction in Congress, with multiple federal lawmakers proposing bills that would help facilitate pooling media rights. It is also one of the topics being discussed in President Trump’s subcommittees on college sports, a continuation of his roundtable in early March. The subcommittees began conversations this week, FOS confirmed.