Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark Comments on League Without Oklahoma, Texas

New Massive 12 Convention commissioner Brett Yormark minced no phrases when describing what he thinks the league will appear to be with out flagships Oklahoma and Texas.

With regard to negotiation new tv contract with out the Sooners and Longhorns among the many stock, Yormark exhibits solely optimism.

“I do know the media has acknowledged that with the lack of Texas and Oklahoma our quantity would go backwards,” Yormark stated. “Let me say it very clearly, we’re not going backwards and we’re not staying flat. We’re going up. The query is, how far.”

Yormark stated Tuesday at Massive 12 Basketball Media Days in Kansas Metropolis that his “intestine” feeling was that the league would start negotiations with present companions ESPN and Fox earlier than the February 2024 formal negotiating window opens.

And people negotiations will depict a Massive 12 with out OU and Texas — however not earlier than 2025.

“They dedicated themselves upfront of me getting right here,” Yormark stated. “They’ve reiterated that dedication, so that they’ll be right here by means of the length (of the present grant of rights settlement), and my relationship with each Texas and Oklahoma could be very, very sturdy.”

Yormark additionally confirmed what was reported by ESPN and CBS Sports activities final week that in 2023 and 2024, a soccer and basketball scheduling mannequin has been set — and revealed that subsequent yr’s soccer schedule will probably be introduced in late November or early December.

With BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston becoming a member of the Massive 12 subsequent yr, the league may have 14 members however won’t have divisions, Yormark stated.

“And over a two-year interval, every of the faculties will play one another at the least as soon as,” he stated. “So, excited for what that schedule will appear to be after we lastly put it out.

“Rivalries will probably be preserved, completely. geography, clearly, from a student-athlete perspective and journey. So all these ideas are a part of the choice making, however we’re in an awesome place.”

Yormark stated he desires to “nationalize the convention. I would like us to indicate up in locations we’ve not been earlier than.”

However he additionally stated he desires to “lay out a global technique over the following six months.”

And basketball, he stated, it an enormous a part of that. Yormark’s background with the Brooklyn Nets and his dealings with athletes and celebrities at Roc Nation give him perception into the league’s worth past soccer.

“You hear a number of about soccer, however basketball is big,” he stated. “It is a international sport. It is in every single place. I am excited to be a part of this. On the boys’s aspect, we’re arguably one of the best convention within the nation. Similar on the ladies’s aspect.

“I’m actually bullish on this convention.”