Brett Yormark ‘willing to disrupt’ as he guides Big 12 into the future

Editor’s Note: This summer, FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt is interviewing the biggest names in college football as part of his new podcast series, “The Joel Klatt Show: Big Noon Conversations.” The following is an excerpt from Episode 6, featuring Brett Yormark. You can listen to episodes with Deion Sanders here, with Nick Saban here, with Greg Sankey here, with Ryan Day here, and with Chip Kelly here.

Brett Yormark has a long, impressive résumé that has led him to one of the most powerful positions in college sports: commissioner of the Big 12 Conference.

The 56-year-old Yormark, who was tabbed to oversee the conference almost exactly one year ago to the day, is smart, bold and confident. He has been extremely successful at every career stop, including in his previous role as CEO of the entertainment agency Rock Nation.

Above all, however, Yormark is an innovator.

Deep into his conversation with Joel Klatt as part of the “The Joel Klatt Show: Big Noon Conversations” series, Yorkmark revealed that he has a whiteboard in his office at the Big 12 headquarters where he writes down all of his ideas. He takes a picture of the board every week, and those pictures serve as a reminder of the innovation he wants to bring to the table.

“I made a promise to our staff for the next couple of months that everything that we’re doing, we need to make sure we do it in great fashion,” Yormark said. “I don’t want anything to be diluted because I’m spreading the staff too thin.

“We have incredible ideas to create new IP and to develop new initiatives. Things that have never been done in this space before that I know are very transferable and that drive value for our member institutions and create revenue opportunities. I’m really excited about it.”

Yormark wasted little time putting those ideas into motion, and it all started with successfully negotiating a six-year TV rights deal with FOX Sports and ESPN worth nearly $2.3 billion. The deal was struck well ahead of the expiration of the Big 12’s current media contract, which is set to occur in 2025.

Yormark felt that completing the deal early was “critically important” to help the Big 12 “solidify our future, create stability and clarity for the members in our conference.”

“It’s the true catalyst,” Yormark said of the TV deal, which he estimates will make up 60% of the conference’s revenue. “I know stability gives you a true seat at the table. It gives you that voice that we were certainly looking for long-term. And we’ve leveraged it. We’ve leveraged it to innovate, to create.

“It gave us the green light to think about the conference differently. To grow it. To diversify it. To think about an international strategy. To create new IP. To think a little bit more into the future.”

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The start of Yormark’s tenure as Big 12 commissioner came at a time of transition for the conference. The summer prior, Texas and Oklahoma both declared their intentions to leave for the SEC. The Big 12, under former commissioner Bob Bowlsby, acted quickly in response, adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.

But when Bowlsby announced in April 2022 that he was stepping down from his post, many wondered where the conference would look for its next commissioner. Enter Yormark, who had limited experience in college athletics, but did have an extensive background in sales, broadcast rights negotiations, and business operations and strategy. It was an uncommon background for a conference commissioner, many of whom came from administration roles in college athletics.

When Klatt asked Yormark how his nontraditional background made him a good fit for the job, he initially took a humble approach, saying that he still has “a lot to learn.” But he then explained why he believed he was the right person for the role.

“This conference needed someone like me,” Yormark began, “someone that was willing to disrupt, innovate, create and look at the conference a little differently — to build its business, brand and profile. 

“I’m the right guy for the job, candidly. I think it’s been a wonderful fit. I’m not sure if I would be a fit to run another conference, candidly. Maybe [I’m] too aggressive, which is perfectly fine. But this is the right place for me.”

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Appearing at his first Big 12 media day press conference in 2022, Yormark made it clear that he was looking to “disrupt” the landscape, declaring that the Big 12 was “open for business.”

Yormark’s comments naturally led to speculation and rumors surrounding conference expansion, which he addressed with Klatt.

“We have guiding principles for expansion,” Yormark said on what he’s looking for in potential new members. “Leadership is critically important. Cultural fit. Geography. Athletic performance. Brand upside. There are lots of things that go into our decision-making.

“When I first took the job — and I said it a few times since — I truly want to be a national conference. I want to be in four different time zones. I want fans from coast to coast. But again, it needs to fit in those parameters. Basketball’s a part of it, too.”

Yormark believes that basketball can be a catalyst for international expansion for his conference, adding that he believes he can “decouple” football from basketball in the next round of media rights negotiations.

Yormark cited conversations he’s had with NBA commissioner Adam Silver as a reason why he’s pursuing innovative basketball ideas.

“I will tell you from a Gen Z perspective, that demo we’re going after, the younger demo, they love basketball for a multitude of reasons,” Yormark said. “[Silver] and I spent a lot of time talking about it, and he’s given me a lot of guidance. He believes I should double down on basketball, no different than I do, for all the right reasons. 

“Now, that doesn’t mean we compromise football. We understand the value of football. But if I can grow football and grow basketball, I’ll be in a much better place long-term.”

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Yormark has ideas beyond the Big 12, too. Like many, he is concerned with the way name, image and likeness and the transfer portal are being used across the sport.

“I mean, it’s a mess,” Yormark said. “Addressing each independently, probably can do it. But collectively, it’s just not working. It’s a disaster, in fact. And we need to fix it.”

Yormark stated that he is a fan of student-athletes being able to capitalize on NIL opportunities, but is calling for federal legislation to help even the playing field among all 50 states.

“We’re working tirelessly on the federal legislation and hopefully over the next couple of months, we’ll have more clarity there,” Yormark said. “I’m not sure we have to go the route of collectively bargaining to protect our student-athletes. I think there are ways we can do that through federal legislation: certifying agents, having more transparency. I think there are things that we can do through legislation that can protect our student-athletes so that agents aren’t taking advantage of them. There could be a cap on commissions that the agents are making on those deals and transparency on what those deals actually look like.”

While Yormark is looking to improve college athletics outside his conference, his main goal is to strengthen the Big 12. 

As college athletics prepare to enter a new era in 2024, there is an understanding that both the SEC and Big Ten have positioned themselves to be at the top when it comes to the number of institutions and financial might. Both conferences will have 16 members starting in 2024 after Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC and USC and UCLA head to the Big Ten. This has led to both conferences landing massive TV rights deals.

Yormark recognizes that the Big 12 is behind in that regard. But he thinks there’s one way that he can help the conference catch up, and it all comes back to those ideas he consistently jots down on his whiteboard.

“We want to be the conference of innovation,” Yormark said. “We want you to push us as far as we can go. … We might not be the conference that drives the most revenue, maybe one day we will, but not today.

“But in all other facets, we want to be the leader. And that’s our goal.” 

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