ARLINGTON, Tx – The Big 12 Conference officially introduced new commissioner Brett Yormark to the media first thing Wednesday morning, the first day of Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium.
Because Yormark doesn’t officially take over the position until August 1, there wasn’t too much information he could give inquiring minds of the media present. However, he did give a look into the mindset of the future leadership group.
“We are exploring all options, and we're open for business,” Brett Yormark said of possible expansion. “Optionality is good, and we're vetting through all of them. I think it's fair to say I've received a lot of phone calls, a lot of interest. People understand the direction of the Big 12, and we're exploring those levels of interest. Nothing is imminent, but we're working hard to make sure that we position the Big 12 in the best possible way on a go-forward basis.”
A few weeks after UCLA and USC announced a move to the Big Ten in a few seasons, conference expansion and realignment went into overdrive. It appears that things are starting to calm down a bit and to quote Robert Allen, it seems we’re in a hurry up and wait mode.
While Yormark can’t say definitely the direction the conference is moving, whether literally or figuratively, it good to know he’s going to be proactive with the future once he takes over on Aug. 1. Especially with his comments on wanting to the make conference “younger and hipper,” with the intention of making the conference more relevant with the Big Ten and SEC expanding.
“I think there's opportunities, as I learn a little bit more about the brand and our fan base, to become a little bit more national, to position our brand a little younger, hipper, cooler, how do we connect a youth culture, diversify some of the things we're doing. And I think we have a great opportunity to do that. I've been in the brand-building business and the business-building business in my days at NASCAR where we took a sport from predominantly the South and where the roots were and made it a national phenomenon. Obviously in Brooklyn we moved the team from the Nets, which was a bit of a depressed brand and franchise, and made it into a global brand. My goal is to do something very similar here, and I'm excited about it, and I'm excited to go to work.”
