Big 12 readies to pounce on Four Corners schools as doubt creeps in about Pac-12’s viability

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As Brett Yormark ducked right into a ready automobile provider Tuesday evening, it is going to were the primary time he used to be known outdoor the place of work in his still-new task.

“That’s the Big 12 commissioner!” gushed a bunch status on a boulevard nook as if Paul McCartney had simply walked by way of.

In normal, faculty commissioners don’t seem to be known on the road. At this charge, Yormark might graduate temporarily to rock celebrity standing in this the city.

The first-year boss sees probabilities for his league mirrored this week by way of the Big 12 Tournament. Thanks to Yormark, the scene comes to far more than basketball.

By Saturday evening, Shaquille O’Neal (employed by way of the Big 12) shall be sitting courtside on the T-Mobile Center prior to his Saturday evening DJ look in conjunction with the development. That’s after a Friday evening live performance by way of rapper Fat Joe.

Yormark commissioned a Big 12 basketball anthem, “No Nights Off,” that may play in a loop across the area this week.

“My vision for this conference is that we were going to live at the intersection of culture and sports,” Yormark advised media on Wednesday.

If the 208 ground seats Yormark repurposed (from media seating) are any indication, the country’s easiest basketball convention is about to change into what Yormark promised: hipper, younger, sexier. A Las Vegas on the Plains. Yormark took the ones seats, bought them out for $5,000 each and every to excessive rollers and created a Championship Club beneath the stands the place best they are able to experience what quantities to a high-end, pop-up speakeasy.

Four new units of enthusiasts — the ones from BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, UCF — are already smelling the large time.

“Whatever there is to make our product better, let’s do it,” Kansas trainer Bill Self stated of the commissioner Wednesday prior to the match tipped off. “… From a promotional standpoint, anything that is doable, he’ll do.”

It won’t prevent with the leisure side. Yormark continues to pursue the Pac-12’s Four Corners schools: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. There were “weekly” conversations between the Big 12 and the ones 4 techniques as talks have heated up, one league insider tells CBS Sports.

Big 12 resources have been ready anxiously to listen the result of a Colorado Board of Regents assembly held to talk about this system’s long term in the Pac-12. The CU regents met in a distinct consultation, in accordance to more than one studies.

It might best take some of the Four Corners schools to bolt from the Pac-12 for the opposite 3 to apply, Big 12 resources say.

“That, to me, is the one we have to get,” Self stated of Arizona.

(*12*) Kansas State trainer Jerome Tang stated. “Who doesn’t want to visit Arizona?”

Seldom has a convention taken on the persona of its commissioner with out knowing it but loving the hell out of it.

The Pac-12 has been most commonly close-mouthed since remaining summer time when USC and UCLA introduced they have been leaving for the Big Ten.

The Big 12, even though, employed a deal-making whirlwind who hasn’t been shy about a lot of the rest. The league will play with 14 groups in 2023-24 as Texas and Oklahoma play out the string and the 4 learners settle in. After that?

“Who knows where expansion takes us?” Yormark stated. 

The convention as soon as nicknamed the Pure Prairie League (on account of its Great Plains roots) would possibly as neatly be renamed “Nationwide.” That is that if Yormark will get his approach and turns into the one FBS convention with groups in all 4 time zones.

Going coast-to-coast is a part of the inducement of having larger. So is doubtlessly getting to 16 groups, which might no less than put the Big 12 on par as the 2 superpowers (SEC, Big Ten) from a club point of view. That would sign balance. It may just additionally imply a renewal of the underrated Holy War contention in the similar convention for the primary time since 2010.

It’s now not Duke-North Carolina, however how are issues understanding in the ACC proper about now?

Stability is unquestionably one thing the Pac-12 cannot declare this present day. Cracks are appearing. Yormark and the Big 12 are providing a protected haven. There looks like an inevitability to all of it this week on the Big 12 Tournament.

Will there be additional realignment?

Four Corners schools: Three high-ranking business resources in the remaining week advised CBS Sports they imagine Yormark goes to achieve success in luring no less than some aggregate of Four Corners schools. Some went farther speculating the Pac-12 used to be a few weeks clear of dissolving.

“The damn breaking, in a sense,” one supply stated. 

As is self belief in the Pac-12 getting a brand new media rights deal that may stay the ten schools in combination.

The irony is the Pac-12 had two probabilities to necessarily wreck aside the Big 12 beginning in 2010. That 12 months, former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott failed in his strive to trap part of the Big 12 to his league. In 2021, when Texas and Oklahoma left, the Pac-12 selected now not to cross after what used to be left of a crumbling Big 12. Former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby moved temporarily that summer time to upload BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF.

Oregon and Washington: The long term of the Ducks and Huskies as individuals of the Pac-12 is also tied to outgoing Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren. There are indications no less than one Big Ten media rights holder would possibly not have interaction in growth talks till Warren formally leaves the convention for the Chicago Bears on April 17. That may just create an ungainly transition for the Pac-12 schools if they’ve eyes on the Big Ten.

The trust is there shall be readability about the Pac-12’s long term lengthy prior to April 17. What will occur to Oregon and Washington if they’re in a form of purgatory looking ahead to their convention destiny? They have been close to the highest of Warren’s checklist as he driven the Big Ten for additional growth after the convention finalized its new media rights deal in August.

Back then, Big Ten athletic administrators and presidents have been towards this kind of transfer that might have incorporated Stanford and California. Without Warren being round to push for the ones schools, it is going to determine for his or her benefit. Eventually. (The Big Ten has but to announce Warren’s substitute.)

Pac-12 growth or backfill? Pac-12 CEOs have reportedly approved growth by way of as many as 4 groups. However, one business supply notes that transfer might not be about growth however reasonably backfilling the league will have to the Pac-12 lose the ones Four Corners schools — or extra. In different phrases, the likes of Colorado State and Fresno State would not be increasing the Pac-12, they might be conserving it upright.

The Pac-12 can not endure the lack of “even two” groups and stay a viable Power Five convention, veteran media seek the advice of Neil Pilson advised CBS Sports not too long ago. “I don’t think they can afford to lose even two more schools. I think if they end up back as the Pac-8 or Pac-10, [it will not be good],” Pilson stated.

Opportunity misplaced? There were contemporary rumblings that the Pac-12 can have gained the similar deal the Big 12 did in October ($31.66 million consistent with crew) had it acted extra aggressively in renewing its media rights. That almost certainly would have solidified the league for years. However, Yormark jumped in entrance of the Big 12 with an October deal that used to be to start with criticized for being underneath marketplace. Well, there may be underneath marketplace and staying viable as a convention.

The Big 12 is confident of no less than 12 dependable individuals thru 2030-31 starting this autumn. The Pac-12’s survival is not assured in any respect.

“It’s not black and white,” Pilson stated. “The market can force you into difficult decisions. If it was an easy choice, [the Pac-12] probably would have made it months ago. If they really had a good deal, they probably would have taken it.”

Adding to the Pac-12’s woes, there is also extra layoffs coming at some media giants. That begs the query: If the events had waited, would ESPN have accomplished the present Big 12 deal presently?  If now not, what does that say for the Pac-12’s talent to get any place close to the Big 12 cash in the existing?

“You think about media companies and the layoffs and their challenges,” Yormark stated Wednesday. “The fact that we were able to cement a six-year extension with two of the biggest media partners in the business [Fox, ESPN]. … When you think about marketing and promotion, we’re with the best in the business.”