Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark had his annual media availability at the Big 12’s spring meetings in Orlando, Florida, Friday, and as expected, the No. 1 topic was the College Football Playoff.
As currently constituted, the format of the 12-team College Football Playoff gives an automatic bid to the five highest-seeded conference champions, with the other seven teams earning their spot via at-large bids.
That model will continue through the 2025 season, but looking ahead to the future, a new format could start as early as 2026.
The Big Ten pushed a model that would give four automatic bids for both the SEC and the Big Ten, with the other two Power Four conferences, the Big 12 and ACC, having two automatic bids. The highest-ranked Group of Five would have one automatic bid, and the three remaining highest-ranked teams would fill out the rest of the field.
That model is heavily skewed in favor of the Big Ten and SEC, but does include two guaranteed bids to the playoff for the Big 12.
Despite that, Yormark voiced his support for the five-plus-11 model, which gives an automatic bid to the five highest-ranked conference champions, with the other 11 spots at-large, given according to the final rankings, just like the current system.
“I think there’s real momentum for 5-11. Certainly the public is voting yes for (it), which I think is critically important and it’s a very good sign,” Yormark said.
“Yes, the Big Ten, the SEC are leading the discussions, but with leading those discussions, they have a great responsibility that goes with it to do what’s right for college football and not to do anything that just benefits two conferences, and I have a lot of faith in the process and I think we’ll land at the right place.”
When asked why he’s pushing back on a model that guarantees his conference two automatic spots, Yormark said the 5+11 model is good for college football.
“In talking to our ADs and coaches, we want to earn it on the field. 5-11 might not be ideal for the conference, but it’s good for college football and it’s what’s fair and we don’t want any gimmes,” Yormark said.
“We want to earn it on the field and that was the direction of the key stakeholder group, the ADs and the coaches, and I feel very comfortable with that and I feel the same way and I’ve been very outspoken about it.”
Thursday, Heather Dinich of ESPN reported that SEC coaches were in support of the 5+11 model and that it had been gaining more momentum as of late.
“I was also glad to hear that the SEC coaches supported that format, which is critically important,” Yormark said.
There’s still plenty of time for debate, as the new CFP model doesn’t have to be decided until Dec. 1 of this year.
“The reality is we have some time now to work through the process, and it is a process. But I do anticipate something getting done sooner than later,” Yormark said.
Other highlights from Yormark’s press conference
On private equity investing in the Big 12:
“We certainly went through the exercise, as we should doing, our due diligence and it was very appropriate. At this point in time, we’re putting it on pause. We understand what’s out there at the capital markets, we know it very well.
“Our model though was very different. It was more of a bespoke model, custom tailored to the potential needs of the conference, getting some strategic expertise and areas to grow the conference, but at the same time, potentially having a capital resource. But at this point in time we decided to press pause. There’s a lot of things going on as we all know in the industry that we need to focus on.”
On the Big 12’s media deal with ESPN and Fox:
“We have great media partners, obviously with the ESPN and Fox, and then they’ve sub-licensed some of our content to TNT, CBS and NBC. So really in our family now, we have five of the biggest distribution partners that exist in collegiate sports, which gives us an advantage to elevate and amplify our brand to do more storytelling.
“When you think about the windows and being on broadcast television, because right now that’s the widest-reaching platform to be on. In our first three weeks, 11 of the games from Fox, nine are on Big Fox. We’re also featured on ESPN 1 quite a bit in those first three weeks. So I’m very confident that our TV partners will continue to put us in the right TV windows so we can elevate and amplify what we do and tell the great stories around our student-athletes and our conference.
“That being said, you’ve seen that we’re moving a couple of games more so than we have in the past to Friday nights because there’s clear air there. Got a couple of games on Thursday nights and we will continue to work with the board and ADs on whether there are other windows that we can exploit with our TV partners that are not disruptive to our campuses, but enhance the viewership opportunities for our school.”
On the House settlement and revenue sharing:
“All I can tell you is that alongside the Power Four conferences, this has been a work in progress in getting prepared for hopeful approval of settlement for the last 12 months. There is an implementation committee that’s really rolling up their sleeves to make sure that we are ready and prepared for this next new chapter.
“I feel really confident about where we’re going and how prepared we are. In fact, as part of our meetings this week, we have the folks from Deloitte, who obviously will be overseeing the (revenue sharing) clearing house. We have the folks from LBI, who will be overseeing cap management. We had a multitude of conversations around being ready for settlement and what does that mean in the next steps.
“So I feel we’re very prepared as a conference, but also, again, I speak for my colleagues and say we’re putting a lot of time and effort into this. It hasn’t, is not happening overnight. There’s been a lot of due diligence and I feel really good about where we are.”
On revenue distribution
“We will distribute this year $558 million to our member institutions, which is a record high. We see real potential and growth opportunity for the business of the Big 12. In the area of the commercial partnerships and sponsorship, we see real upside. I’m incredibly bullish on the future of the Big 12. As we head into this new chapter in our industry, we will be at the forefront of innovation and we’re going to continue to positively disrupt while competing for championships at the highest levels.”
