It was always the goal of the Big 12 commissioner search to be done in an expedited manner. And on Wednesday, it became official. Brett Yormark will be the next Big 12 commissioner. Yormark leaves his position as the COO of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to now sit in one of the more powerful chairs in college athletics.
Big 12 Embarking On A New Chapter
The Big 12 entered the 2022 season at quite the crossroad. The former flagship programs of the conference, Texas and Oklahoma, are destined for the SEC in 2025. If that challenge wasn’t large enough, the timing of the Longhorns and Sooners coincides with the end of the league’s media rights deal, which ends after the 2024-25 season. By this time, the SEC, Big Ten, and Pac-12 will have already renegotiated their respective TV contracts. Talks for the new Big 12 media deal are expected to begin in the spring of 2024. This gives the new commissioner just under two years to prepare for those negotiations.
How can Yormark maximize the Big 12’s new value? Former commissioner Bob Bowlsby expressed that now was “the right time to find an off-ramp” after managing to secure four new members for the conference. Those four new members, UCF, Houston, Cincinnati and BYU are officially entering the league in 2023. While the men’s basketball acumen will be undoubtedly the best in the country, football still drives the overall success of the conference. But is that enough? Is Yorkmark going to have to explore more expansion for the conference to maximize the needed dollars and cents to keep up with the Big 10 and the SEC. Is it possible the preferred strategy heading into a new media deal presents a combination of linear and streaming partnerships?
New Blood Was Needed In This Big 12 Commissioner Search
It needs to be said out loud. College football, for all the sights and sounds of being in the stadium that many of us fell in love with, is a television product. The in-home experience of watching one (or 10 simultaneous) games has reached five-star levels. This Big 12 commissioner search landed on a candidate who understands entertainment. It also falls in line with recent hires across the Power five landscape. Last year, the Pac-12 hired George Kliavkoff, an MGM Resorts sports and entertainment executive. And just a year prior to that, the Big Ten went outside the college administrator box to replace Jim Delaney. They hired Kevin Warren, a former Minnesota Vikings executive and Senior Vice President of Business Operations for the Detroit Lions.
And while the new media deal is going to be possibly the biggest hurdle Yormark ever has to clear (or stumble over), he also joins college athletics at the most unique time for its athletes. All college athletes can now receive compensation for their names, images and likenesses (NIL). How schools and conference brand their athletes are going to have a major impact on the health of the conference as a whole. Sprinkle in the NCAA on the full retreat from the Supreme court 9-0 ruling and college football playoff expansion, Yormark is trying to cook up a recipe with the most volatile ingredients. But the potential to create a three-star Michelin Star quality dish is there.
Who is Brett Yormark?
The 55-year-old York has spent the previous three years at Roc Nation. He started out as co-CEO with twin brother. During his time with Roc Nation, he’s worked with anyone under the sun when it comes to entertainment. Athletes, musicians, teams, leagues, and brands are just a few of the people/businesses he has worked with. He also has overseen sponsorship, licensing, content partnerships, and brand strategy. The Big 12 found someone in Yormark to navigate the NIL and agent space with its athletes. He should be able to equip schools with the knowledge needed to help their respective athletes.
Prior to working for Roc Nation, Yormark spent 14 years as CEO of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment (BSE) Global. BSE manages and controls the Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, and the Nets’ NBA G League team. During that time, Yormark was named three times to the “Forty Under 40” list by Sports Business Journal. He also was an executive for NASCAR for six years before joining BSE.
With The Big 12 Commissioner Search Over, What Should Fans Demand?
It’s hard to demand something out of a position that works for university presidents. And for that matter, most fans will likely just express their “frustrations” on Twitter (as is tradition for college football fans.) But if the Big 12 fans want to be viewed as a “Power five” conference (or whatever term we use after the Big 10 and SEC start collecting on their new media deals), then nothing else matters but how well he negotiates the new media deal.
NIL is great for the athletes and is frankly overdue. He surely can make strides in this area to better the athletes. However, the reputation of the Big 12 for the next two decades is going to be decided when pen hits paper/Docusign clicks are made on the new media rights deal. Fans should trust in his experience in the entertainment industry and “demand” that the Big 12 is not left behind in the college football arms race.
