Yormark Still Feeling It at Big 12 Basketball Media Days in KC

STILLWATER – Pokes Report is not on Kansas City for the Big 12 Basketball Media Days, but I do have a fellow radio teammate there from Triple Play Sports Radio in program director Jordan Woodruff. He told me that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark spoke to the media again on Wednesday (men’s basketball media day) after delivering most of his material on Tuesday before the women’s head coaches and players shared with the media. Basketball is truly Yormark’s home turf. His resume’ has so many more entries with hoops including his extensive time with the Brooklyn Nets leading him into his work with Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and then into ROC Nation. 

I’ve said many times that I believe the top rung of Yormark’s career goals is NBA Commissioner and it might be his next step as well as he is doing with the Big 12 in a short period of time. 

“We’ve become a national conference spanning 10 states, four time zones and a footprint of over 90 million people,” Yormark said in Kansas City speaking at the Big 12 Basketball Media Days. As we grow to a 16-team league, the best conference in basketball just got better.

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Yormark smiles a lot these days.

“Our conference has never been stronger than it has been right now,” Yormark continued. “On the men’s side 70 percent of our teams played in the NCAA Tournament. On the women’s side, they had the nation’s leading 60 percent in the women’s tournament.”

This sounds a little bit like the victory lap he took in Arlington this July at the Big 12 Football Media Days, but hey two of those states and close to 13 million of those people have been added since July with the arrival of the Pac-12 four corner schools of Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah. 

Yormark said he would not address any questions on expansion because he is not looking to expand the conference, and then he proceeded to say that he is always on the lookout. If something promising is there then he will pursue it.

Oklahoma State Cowgirls Basketball Twitter

This year the women’s tournament will move over and join the men at the T-Mobile Center.

That same approach goes for continuing to grow basketball. The now commissioner went to Indiana and was a basketball manager. That into his professional experience growing the sport and some of its’ brands. Yormark understands football is where the bulk of the money is made, but he sees basketball as resource that can rise on the sports market. He also knows his conference now has four of the college hoop game’s bluebloods and growing brands with Kansas, Arizona, Baylor, and Houston as bluebloods and Kansas State as a budding brand. 

“It’s no different than last year,” Yormark said. “If an opportunity presents itself to strengthen this conference, I’m going to explore it. I said before I think basketball is undervalued, but it goes beyond just monetizing it. No sport connects more with culture than basketball.

“We have to explore every possibility and opportunity to grow and create value for our members,” Yormark continued. “That’s what my job is.”

Part of that is growing the basketball schedule as he announced additional conference games. Two more than this season for the 2024-25 campaign. That is likely two non conference gimme games becoming Big 12 Conference games making the inventory more valuable to the television partners.

“For basketball, it’s looking like a 20-game schedule and 18 for women is in our future, and on the football front we’re working diligently as well,” Yormark enthusiastically said. “Our schedule is being guided by a few key parameters, including geography, competitive balance, historic matchups and rivalries.”

Yormark said the same guideline are there in putting together the new football schedule for 2024 in the 16-team Big 12. That schedule has been worked on according to Yormark and our recent conversation with Oklahoma State athletic director Chad Weiberg. The latest is a late November or December release possible, but more likely a January release. 

“Hopefully early Janauary,” Yormark said..