ARLINGTON, Texas – The buzz around radio row at Big 12 Media Days was that at noon when commissioner Brett Yormark stepped up to speak there might be two new members in the Big 12 Conference. Yormark promised big news and in this day and age of realignment that equates to new members. We’ve even projected recently Colorado and UConn.
Yormark got up to speak and no new members and when the questions were asked he said, “We have an expansion plan but we’re not ready to reveal it.”
In his one-year anniversary of taking over as Big 12 commissioner he didn’t take a victory lap but he had a one-year account of positives to relive. He did.
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There was also a massive rebranding of the conference complete with a new intstituional video message. It was good.
“Let's not forget during last year's media days event, I announced that the Big 12 was open for business,” Yormark said. “Since then, we've jumped ahead of the line and extended TV agreements with existing partners through 2031, creating tremendous stability and clarity for this conference.”
That was huge and it appears to have crippled the Pac-12, which keeps pushing back it’s multi-media rights announcement.
“We accelerated Texas and OU withdrawal, which was a win-win for all parties. We completed an organizational redesign,” added Yormark.
“We formed a business advisory board made up of some of the finest sea-level executives in this country. We announced Big 12 pro day with our partner, the NFL,” Yormark continued.
“We hosted our first ever business summit, which was a collaboration among our member institutions to share best practices. We announced Big 12 Mexico. We brought our commercial business in house. We introduced enhancements to our championship events throughout the year by tapping into influencers, connecting with culture, and establishing premium offerings, all while driving incremental revenue for our member institutions,” so much good for Yormark to put out there.
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Yormark was confident.
“We have reconnected and galvanized our fan base like never before. Year over year social media growth has been through the roof this athletic season. The conference has gained nearly 100,000 new followers,” presumably all younger, hipper, and cooler. “That's a 309 percent increase year over year. We have the second most Twitter and Instagram followers of any conference in America.”
Next week we are taking 11 of our men's and women's head basketball coaches to Rucker Park to conduct a series of youth clinics in one of America's most iconic playgrounds,” in a move that Yormark I believe is really proud of.
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New fans in the mascot section like the UCF Knight.
Yormark called it “a very busy 11 months” and I think he will stay busy. Maybe the biggest bomb shell was he promised a spectacular halftime show at AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 Championship Game.
“Tickets for this year's game will go on sale Saturday, August 12,” the commissioner said. “For the first time, we will be introducing a halftime show, featuring a major artist and our school bands that will be part of the ABC game telecast. The artist will be announced in conjunction with the August 12 ticket on-sale date.”
As for future members, stay tuned. Maybe he’s saving that for next week when the SEC has their media days. That could certainly cause some interruption in Greg Sankey’s media blitz in Nashville.
