Conference Realignment: Just the Facts and Brett Yormark May Not Get His Big Splash

STILLWATER – You can certainly understand Brett Yormark coming in as the new commissioner of the Big 12 Conference and his desire to pull off a huge accomplishment right out of the gate and impress everybody in his new field of college athletics, make that college football revenue enhancement. That is what we are talking about. There are people in the Big 12 office that can promote the accomplishments of the schools in the league, can adjudicate any differences between conference members, and decide on the décor at Big 12 functions. Yormark is there to make sure Oklahoma State and Iowa State have enough capital to meet the ever-growing budget. His job is to make sure no other schools consider leaving the conference and that new members BYU and Cincinnati have the green they need to make their football programs competitive in their soon-to-be Power Five neighborhood or as close to the SEC and Big Ten as possible.

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Brett Yormark

Yormark met with the athletic directors of the Big 12 on July 1. He had a morning zoom conference with the folks that hired him the Big 12 Board of Directors (school Presidents and Chancellors) on Tuesday, July 6. He was hopeful that he would have something to announce at Big 12 Football Media Days when he makes his first address to the media and in public at 8:30 a.m. on July 13. I’m sure he will come up with something, but it won’t be the poaching of Oregon and Washington or even Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. He won’t be able to say that the Big 12 and ACC have entered into a lukewarm alliance and will be staging their own mini playoff at the end of the regular season.

None of those things are happening. USC and UCLA triggered a mass speculation on what could be next in college conference realignment when they Boomered, soonered, and horned the Pac-12 by moving their football exploits to a colder climate in the Big Ten. Minnesota and Wisconsin will look forward to possible late season road games in sunny Los Angeles while the Trojans and Bruins can start order cold weather gear from Nike and Adidas respectively.

Since then, the speculation has been fun about the rest of the Pac-12 and Notre Dame. The thought that Greg Sankey and Kevin Warren were going to rush to grab more schools in order to one up each other in the pursuit of a 20-to-24 team super conference that would cause ESPN and FOX respectively to put some more zeroes on their media rights revenue or current negotiations.  

Instead, Notre Dame has done what they have always done as the most desired piece on the college conference realignment board. They have refused to move and athletic director Jack Swarbrick still insists that staying independent is an option and that he is always monitoring the situation. If Notre Dame can’t draw top dollar for their television rights, if they can’t get a fair shot at being in the CFP, or if someone is able to make them an offer they can’t turn down, then Notre Dame will join a conference. None of those have happened yet.

The best acquisitions still in the Pac-12 are Oregon and Washington and they too have stayed chilly. They are watching Notre Dame, each other, and the early start by Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to the conference multi-media rights negotiations. They seem willing to find out what the worth is staying out West without USC and UCLA.

The ACC still remains locked by their Grant-of-Rights that seems to be ironclad. Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Virginia, and North Carolina, all likely targets of the SEC or Big Ten, can enjoy their ACC Network that cost them dearly in getting locked into a long-term contract with ESPN that pays them below market value returns.

It appears realignment will be in a pause until the Pac-12 finds out more about its’ value without the Los Angeles schools and Notre Dame finds out more about the validity of staying an independent. Commissioners Sankey and Warren are not pedal down toward adding more schools just yet.

That means Brett Yormark is going to have to open his tenure with more promises than having any delivery for his first public introduction. It is okay because at least he hasn’t lost any schools yet.