During a halftime interview at the BYU vs. Baylor basketball game, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark was brought on for a short interview to discuss the new Ferrell Center and the success of the Big 12. While discussing the footprint of the Big 12, Yormark said the following:
“We were very ambitious with our vision…When I inherited the conference we were in five states and two time zones…now we are in ten states and all four time zones with a footprint of 90 million people.
I love the composition of this conference…but if there is an opportunity to continue strengthen this conference, it is my job to explore everything…again I love where we are, but if there is a chance to strengthen our conference, we will do that.”
Since becoming commissioner, Brett Yormark has been very ambitious in doing all he can to secure the best future for the Big 12. However, some had wondered where he currently stood with expansion and adding more teams. During the Big 12 Football Media Days, he had a tone that seemed more content and happy with the future 16 teams and suggested that the conference may stay put for a while.
Brett Yormark’s comments on Tuesday were the most recent example and the first in a few months of him publicly claiming that expansion was still very much on his mind. Even more interestingly, he brought up expansion on his own, as opposed to other times when he has been hounded by reporters trying to get any information on the topic as possible.
Possible Candidates Brett Yormark May Have Been Hinting At
There are two directions that Brett Yormark may be thinking about when it comes to expansion.
- Basketball Focused: During the same interview, Brett Yormark continued to say how much he loved basketball and how much of his background was with basketball (working with the Brooklyn Nets). In the past, Yormark has also said that he believes that when the next round of TV media deals are discussed, basketball will be separate from football. The Big 12 is the dominant basketball conference and is only going to get better next year with the addition of Arizona and the other four corner schools.If Yormark decides to go the basketball route, the obvious choices include Gonzaga, San Diego State, UConn, and maybe another Big East school.
- Football Focused: Football is king when it comes to money and revenue. If Brett Yormark goes this route, the immediate options will likely come from the ACC if Florida State is able to get out of its media deal. FSU would be the first option, but really, any combination of two to four teams from the current ACC would be great additions to the conference.It is also possible that Yormark may target TV markets. This wasn’t something I thought of prior to his comments on states and footprint, but with Brett Yormark specifically mentioning them, it makes one wonder if perhaps he’d go after a huge market team such as UNLV, Memphis, South Florida, or San Diego State. This is less likely, but his comments at least put the possibility on the table.
“It’s a great time to be a fan of the Big 12.”
Commissioner Yormark sounds off live from Foster Pavilion 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/GIt7KzbJIJ
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) January 10, 2024
“It’s a Good Time to be a Fan of the Big 12”
When concluding his interview, Brett Yormark listed off a bunch of things going really for the conference. He ended his interview by thanking ESPN and saying “It is a great time to be a fan of the Big 12”.
We agree Brett, we agree.
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