The Big12Conference struck a six-year contract extension with ESPN and Fox worth $2.2 billion, as was first reported by the Sports Business Journal and later multiple other outlets.
Incoming Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark speaks during a news conference opening the NCAA college football Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, July 13, 2022.New Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark told anybody that would listen in recent weeks that his conference’s new media rights deal would be more lucrative than the one before it.
“I know the media felt that we would go backwards with the loss of Texas and Oklahoma,” Yormark said on Oct. 18. “But as I said last week in New York, and I’ll continue to say, this conference is bigger than any two institutions. And I think our [TV] partners understand that. They see the value.”The Big 12 struck a six-year contract extension with ESPN and Fox worth $2.
Knowing the Pac-12 had pushed up its negotiations, the Big 12 did not want to be cut out of the money. Also, in securing a media rights deal first, Yormark could tether together his conference members as the threat of conference realignment looms. Not to mention, having a firm revenue number is a powerful negotiating tool to lure potential new members into the Big 12., in the event that the conference expands.
For BYU, a team moving away from football independence into the Big 12 in all sports, the annual revenue will be a large increase from its current margins. The exact increase, because BYU is a private school, is not known.the addition of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to the Big 12 appeared to help the conference more than originally thought