The Big 12 Conference has unanimously extended Commissioner Brett Yormark’s contract through June 2030. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the extension was voted on during the league meetings held in Dallas on Tuesday, May 6, which shows great faith in Yormark’s vision for the future.
Since 2022, Yormark has engaged in a strategic restructuring that altered the very landscape of the Big 12. His tenure has stabilized the conference amid a tumultuous period of realignment rejection, while bold, money-making decisions have gained the applause of university presidents and athletic directors.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormack Extended Through 2030
As reported by ESPN insider Pete Thamel, the conference has agreed to a three-year extension that extends his contract from 2027 to 2030.
Sources: The Big 12 Board of Directors has agreed to a three-year contract extension with Commissioner Brett Yormark. The extension will run through 2030, as he’d originally agreed in 2022 to a five-year deal through 2027. pic.twitter.com/7HskLfnhqS
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 6, 2025
Arguably, the most important achievement in Yormark’s tenure has been the negotiation of a media rights deal worth $2.28 billion with ESPN and FOX. With its extension from 2022, with a running period through 2031, it now guarantees long-term security to the Big 12. Also, it labels the league as willing to compete with anyone in the media domain.
The Big 12 leaders are rewarding Yormark’s work stabilizing and modernizing the Big 12 in the wake of the departure of OU and Texas. He’s overseen the addition of four new schools and a new television deal that strategically boxed out the Pac-12 and fortified the Big 12.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 6, 2025
According to reports, the schools receive around $31 million per annum in media revenue, an agreement finalized before the Pac-12 reached out for its own. Some even say the move fast-tracked the death of the Pac-12.
Once the college football realignment frenzy started spinning again in 2023, Yormark’s pace was dizzying. He successfully wooed four more Pac-12 schools into the fold—Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah—thus taking the conference membership tally to 16 teams in 2024.
The additions gave the Big 12 the all-coast reach and maximum punch in Mountain and Pacific time zones. Yormark had also added BYU, Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF from the AAC, deepening rivalries in both football and basketball for the conference.
In addition to realignment and media deals, he has updated the Big 12’s image. He focused growth efforts on basketball, opened up international opportunities such as Big 12 Mexico, and incorporated entertainment crossovers, nodding to his executive background with Roc Nation and the Brooklyn Nets.
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With the completion of his new contract, Yormark must push heavily into integrating new schools, navigating the repercussions of playoff expansion, and creatively maximizing the Big 12’s national stage.
In an ever-changing college sports world, the Big 12 sends the message that Brett Yormark is its man for the next phase of realignment, revenues, and relevance.
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