LAS VEGAS – In the middle of Big 12 Football Media Day, inside the climate-controlled confines of Allegiant Stadium during a hot desert day, a costumed mascot – BYU’s furry, gray cougar – plays with Cincinnati’s bear cat as the O. Utah athletic director watches from afar.
Longtime Utes administrator Mark Harlan points to this unusual and perhaps unthinkable scene that reveals a new reality: BYU and Cincinnati are in the same conference as Utah. And Colorado and Arizona State. And Kansas. And in the state of Iowa. And in Central Florida.
Yes, says Harlan, that’s strange. It’s a little surreal, almost unbelievable, that a year ago Harlan was strolling through the Pac-12 media day just a few blocks away and that just 18 months ago, his team won the Pac-12 championship in this very spot.
“Now,” he says, “here we are playing for the Big 12.”
It’s all very strange. But exciting too, says Harlan. New teams. New places. And a bold new commissioner who confidently kicked off the two-day event here with a fiery hour-long presentation in which he proudly described his league as one of the three best in the country.
Dressed in a tailored gray suit and impeccable red tie, Brett Yormark walked across the elevated stage before more than 500 members of the media, not unlike a WWE wrestler stalking the ring, tearing and roaring, shaking and jiving and attacking his rivals. not so subtly. most notably the ACC.
“We have solidified ourselves as one of the top three conferences in America,” he said.
He described the Big 12 as the “deepest” football league in the country and said the conference is “more relevant now than ever.”
“I won’t stop until we’re the No. 1 conference in America,” he later added.
His words were strikingly similar to those spoken a year ago at Big 12 Media Day, when he began publicly courting four Pac-12 schools, telling the world that his league was “open for business,” a phrase he has repeated ever since. . He finally got those schools — Arizona, ASU, Utah and Colorado — in one of two blows that sunk a 108-year-old conference (the other of the Big Ten hitting Washington and Oregon).
A year later, here at the site of the last Pac-12 football title game, the Big 12 continues to explore expansion, he says. This wouldn’t be a big deal except for this fact: two ACC members are actively trying to leave.
“I guess you could say we’re still open for business,” he said with a smile. “This is no time to press pause.”
In an ever-changing industry, Yormark is always on the move, not on pause. An innovative thinker, he presented his members with various concepts in an effort to generate more value and revenue to compete with the big dogs (Big Ten and SEC) and keep pace, or stay ahead, as Yormark says. , with the ACC.
The Big 12 is exploring a naming rights deal (with Allstate) and examining equity investments through private equity firms. Yormark is pushing the NCAA to allow his conference to add corporate emblems to employee uniforms, which could generate millions in sponsorship deals. He has plans to take women’s soccer and baseball teams to Mexico for international competitions.
He describes himself as a “disruptor”, someone who “stirs the pot”.
“College football needs this,” he jokes.
But not all of these proposals will come to fruition or come to fruition. Within his own league, there is often resistance to ideas that some describe as innovative and others call extreme. For example, a plan to add Gonzaga was left on the cutting room floor. And while there is renewed interest from Yormark in adding UConn, his candidacy remains uncertain. The Big 12’s foray into Mexico, now football and baseball, was originally expected to include basketball and football games (these appear to have been cancelled).
Supporting a league-wide private equity deal that distributes $50 million in additional revenue to each school may require an extension of the rights grant — a hurdle some will not be able to overcome. As for naming rights, there is broad member support for changing the Big 12 name to “Allstate 12” in a game-changing deal that could distribute millions more to schools. But there are many complications that can totally ruin the deal.
And the ACC? The league’s situation is dangerous enough that the buzz among some here in Las Vegas is focused on the conference’s future as Florida State and Clemson work to extricate themselves.
“What’s going on with FSU?” asked a Big 12 coach.
“Do you know what’s going on at the ACC?” an administrator asked.
“Jim Phillips really has a bad situation on his hands!” another added.
Ironically, similar rumors surfaced a year ago at Big 12 media day… about the Pac-12.
Will Yormark find or be able to find enough financial resources to get a Clemson or FSU or both? Will he fire another torpedo that destroys another conference?
We may be a long way from any ACC resolution. But just around the corner is a month of unusual football media day events like the one here in Las Vegas. Next come the bright lights of SEC media days originating from, of all places, Dallas, where the Big 12, it seems, usually holds its event. Texas and Oklahoma will make their first appearance at the event.
The ACC and Big Ten hold their media days the following week, July 22-25, with a total of six new West Coast teams. That Friday, July 26, is traditionally reserved for Pac-12 media day.
Instead, the league’s two remaining schools, Washington State and Oregon State, will hold a scaled-down version of a media event Wednesday night here in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, its 10 former league partners are spread across the country: two in the ACC, four in the Big Ten and another four here in the Big 12.
Yogi Roth was also here on Tuesday for the Big 12’s opening day. He has spent the last two decades affiliated in some way with the Pac-12, first as an assistant at USC and then as a Pac-12 Network analyst and host of studio. In fact, Roth hosted last year’s Pac-12 media day, the final version of it — or maybe not. He believes one day a version of the Pac-12 will be reformed.
This is just a “single window” of conference realignment, he said. At some point, he asks, won’t schools return to their geographic and cultural footprints?
“What hurts most is that the Pac-12 was at its best. That’s it,” he said, looking at the 16 helmets on display at midfield at Allegiant Stadium.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if Utah or Arizona won this league,” said Roth, who started a West Coast-focused podcast and began calling Big Ten games this year. “I wouldn’t be shocked if Oregon won the Big Ten. You start to think about it. There are a lot of really talented West Coast teams that really started to peak when the NIL and transfer portal began.
“Now you think…Is Utah going to play Central Florida on Friday night in the season finale? How does this make any sense? That part is: What are we doing in college athletics?”
Across the field, Harlan walks toward lunch in the bowels of Allegiant Stadium while telling a story. On the plane ride to Las Vegas on Monday, the Utah players asked the athletic director one question: While we’re at Big 12 Media Day, can we talk positively about the Pac-12?
Harlan said this led to thoughtful conversation during the plane ride. Sure, he told them, you can talk positively about the Pac-12. Speak your feelings. Say what you feel.
“There’s a narrative about the Pac-12 and if you weren’t in it, it’s easy to make fun of it, but if you were in it and fought for it, you have a great respect for the time there and the people there,” Harlan said. “Our players loved competing in the Pac-12 and it did great things for the university and for them as well. You’re talking about guys with two championships in that league and in this stadium.
“It’s crazy.”
