Gundy Gives Yormark His Props on New TV Rights Deal
STILLWATER – Monday’s weekly news conference couldn’t have been one of of Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy’s favorites. It’s no fun taking media questions about a 48-0 whitewash when you were in position to be a favorite for the Big 12 Championship Game. Gundy handles these days pretty well, but he did get one triumphant moment out of it when asked about the new Big 12 Conference media rights negotiation and deal that was revealed on Sunday in a report by the Sports Business Journal.
“Well, that’s one thing I was right on. I said he would do it,” Gundy said of new Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who has had supporters in Gundy, OSU President Dr. Kayse Shrum, and athletic director Chad Weiberg from the get go. “This conference will be fine. Oklahoma State will be fine. From day one, I mentioned that. I said Oklahoma State would be fine. I didn’t know anything about the new teams coming in, but I knew we were in good shape. And then once the new teams came in, I knew that we were in great shape. And then once we hired (Yormark), I even felt better. And he secured it … however much more for, what, six years.”
New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark hit deal with the mark he promised this summer with current television partners ESPN and FOX Sports that will secure the Big 12 as at least the third highest earning major athletic conference and secure their future while casting major doubt on the future of the Pac 12 Conference and dwarfing the earnings of the current and long-term deal that the Atlantic Coast Conference is saddled with. The extension with ESPN and Fox Sports on a six-year media rights agreement worth a total of $2.28B, an annual average of $380M, according to the first report in the Sports Business Journal.
It was obvious that Gundy had not looked over details and who knows when he even first heard about the deal that broke around 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. Gundy said he got up at 3:42 a.m. and was in the office by 4:17 a.m. and busy watching every play on offense, defense, and special teams from the Saturday loss.
Talking about a new television deal some 73 percent better than what the Big 12 currently has and that Yormark did what he said he would do, get the conference more than they had despite Texas and Oklahoma leaving the league.
“Yeah, so it starts at 25,” Gundy asked to likely confirm. “So, six years, which that’s kind of what we talked about in here, I felt like we would be a short-term, well short-term media deals, because normally they try to grab a 10, 12, 15-year deal. But because it’s new, and there’s new teams, it makes sense for ESPN and FOX to not want to say we’re gonna buy a 12-year deal. ‘OK, we’ll do a five- or six-year deal. We’re going to pay you more money.’ (Yormark) is a big time wheeler-dealer negotiator, and from day one that I talked to him, I knew we were in great hands. So he secured us all the way through ’31 and I’m gonna guess at ’28ish or something, I’m not a business guy, so I don’t know, but he’s gonna go back in and do it again, and it’s gonna be better.”
Just on a tag, I asked Gundy about the Big 12 being the only school going forward that would be partnered with the two biggest broadcasters of college football in ESPN and FOX Sports.
“Pretty good I guess,” Gundy added. “His (Yormark’s) job is to make big money for the schools. That’s what he did.”