Day 1 of the 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days has officially come and gone. Eight coaches, including six of Arizona’s 2025 opponents, spoke on the conference’s opening day following remarks from Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. See what Commissioner Yormark had to say regarding the current state of the league, vision for the future, and how the Big 12 will continue to lead as a model conference through realignment, NIL and revenue sharing, the evolution of the CFP, and more.
Quick Hits:
- 31 Big 12 athletes were selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, matching the conference’s highest total since 2005.
- In 2024, the Big 12 led the nation in fourth quarter lead changes and go-ahead scores in the final minute of conference games.
- The Big 12 returns nine starting quarterbacks who threw for over 2,400 yards last season. The rest of the Power 4 combined had just 11.
Opening Remarks:
Less than 10 minutes into his opening remarks, Commissioner Yormark reaffirmed his stance regarding prospective changes to the ever-evolving College Football Playoff (CFP) format. After expanding to the 12-team format during the 2024 season, college football will undergo another adjustment in 2025, with the top four teams in the final CFP rankings earning first-round byes, not the four highest-ranked conference champions.
With talks of expanding the CFP to 16 teams in the future, possibly as soon as 2026, Yormark had this to say:
“Speaking of the CFP, we continue to believe the 5+11 model proposed by the Big 12 and the ACC is the right playoff format for college football. We want to earn it on the field. We do not need a professional model because we are not the NFL. {We} are college football, and we must act like it. There is nothing in sports like college football and we must protect what makes it special and do what’s right for the fans and the game.”
He also double-down on partnerships with the WWE, teasing a release scheduled for Wednesday, and highlighted other strategic partnerships across the league, highlighting recent partnerships with Microsoft, whose AI companion is the naming sponsor of 2025 Big 12 Media Days, as well as PayPal.
Yormark also reaffirmed the league’s commitment to other sports, including men’s and women’s basketball, as well as Olympic sports.
Q&A:
On the 2025 Aer Lingus Classic between Iowa State and Kansas State and what it means for future Big 12 international expansion?
“I’ve been on the record to say that I want this conference to be a global conference. I think we can win globally big time. Playing in Ireland obviously is that first step. We’ll return there next year, as I said in my in my opening comments.
There’s a good chance we’ll be in Mexico City next spring for baseball. Baylor’s kicking off the women’s basketball season in Paris this year, and we’re having conversations with other countries throughout the world that are very interested in bringing the Big 12 to their marketplace. So, I think the game in Ireland is an impetus, if you will, for future global expansion and I’m all in on it. I think it’s critically important, you know, for our conference.”
On balancing support for the 5+11 CFP model after the CFP Selection Committee did not show a lot of respect to Big 12 teams in its final rankings last season:
“For the automatic qualifiers, getting two automatics might be enticing after the respect that the committee failed to show you. I have a lot of faith in this selection process. I was recently in North Carolina. We had a CFP meeting that was hosted by the executive director, Richard Clark, who’s here today…They are doing a full audit of the selection process to figure out how they can modernize and contemporize and how they use data and how certain metrics can be more heavily weighted. Most importantly, they have a great leader, Mack Rhodes of Baylor.
And I have a lot of faith in Mack Rhodes and the work he’s doing with the selection committee. So, I have a lot of faith in what they’re doing and 5+11 is fair. We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12, given your comments about AQ’s, but long term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us. And I’m doubling down today on 5+11 and I know Jim Phillips will. And I’m sure some of the other conference commissioners will as well.”
What will revenue sharing for Women’s Basketball and Olympic sports look like starting this season?
“I can’t speak for our schools because obviously they determine how they want to slice the pie, if you will. But I can tell you in conversations, women’s basketball matters, and it matters to our conference. We want more linear exposure for our games, which we’re working on.
And you know, from a conference perspective, we’re looking to elevate and amplify women’s basketball in all the right ways. Candidly, last year I went to more women’s basketball than I did men’s basketball. I’ve become a big fan. We’re going to work to double down, as I mentioned in my comments. And I’m excited about where we’re going.”
On the decision to forgo the Preseason Media Poll after Arizona State was picked to finish 16th and won the Big 12 title in 2024:
“Well, it was the coaches poll out for our conference, and I think it disadvantaged Arizona State last year. They were picked 16th and I think that hurt them. And Scott Draper, our chief competition officer and I discussed this. I think there’s no value.
And I also feel that with the transfer portal and with roster management and what goes on as you build that roster, no one knows what they really have. They know what they have on paper, but it hasn’t played out. And that was the case with Arizona State last year. So I don’t know if it’s a trend or not but certainly it’s the right thing for the Big 12 and I’m glad we did it.”