Brett Yormark reveals impact of media rights on Big 12 private capital deal
· Yahoo Sports
When the Big 12 struck its private capital deal with RedBird and Weatherford, it was quickly pointed out that RedBird has Paramount Global in its portfolio. Paramount owns CBS, leading to questions about how much media rights impacted the decision to strike the agreement.
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Although the Big 12’s current media deal with ESPN and FOX runs through 2030, commissioner Brett Yormark said “optionality” is important. While RedBird’s relationship with Paramount wasn’t the main reason for the Big 12 partnership, he called it “value add.”
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Yormark struck quickly in 2022 when he took over as commissioner to extend the Big 12’s media deal, which wasn’t due to expire until 2025. The conference has since landed sublicense deals with CBS, TNT and Peacock to bring games to a wider audience. But in the process, Yormark said he’s hoping to set the Big 12 up for when it heads back to the open market in 2030.
“It wasn’t the driver, but it was certainly value add for us,” Yormark said on Big 12 Today. “And when you look at all the companies that they interface with, certainly, that one stood out in a big way for us. Listen, we’re going to be back in the marketplace in January of ’30 for our next TV deal. For me, it’s always nice to have optionality and to be aligned with lots of different players. No different than what we did with our sublicensing for men’s basketball. I want people to like us now and then, hopefully, they’ll love us when we become free agents.
“That move we made with sublicensing, to bring NBC and Peacock in and to bring TNT in – in addition to CBS, who had been working with us, and of course, ESPN and FOX – gave us unprecedented promotional support this year that drove our ratings up. So that move was great for the immediacy of it, but it also got people to sample us. Different networks and partners. I look at the partnership with RedBird in the same way.”
Brett Yormark previews media landscape in 2030
When the Big 12 agreed to its latest media deal with ESPN and FOX in 2022, streaming services were still in the early stages of entering sports. Prime Video was beginning its relationship with ESPN as the home of “Thursday Night Football” and although Apple presented a deal with the Pac-12, it never came together. Apple is the home of Major League Soccer and has a relationship with Major League Baseball.
Now, the landscape has changed dramatically. Netflix is now a key player after airing multiple NFL games, as well as UFC and MMA events, while YouTube also broadcast an NFL game last year. In addition to “TNF,” Prime Video has also added The Masters, NBA and WNBA games to its portfolio.
While previewing what things will look like in a few years when the Big 12 hits the market again, Brett Yormark predicted streaming services would be squarely in the picture. That’s why he stressed the importance of relationships across a range of options for when that time comes.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think there’ll be a lot of players,” Yormark said. “I think the digital players – the streamers – are going to be much more active than they were in our last deal. We, as a conference … we’ll have to kind of go in the lab and figure out, which is the best way forward? But having optionality is, for me, a necessity. Knowing that there are different players that we can speak to – and let’s face it. I’m in the relationship marketing mode right now.
“Trust me, there isn’t a player out there that I haven’t contacted, chatted with, just in an effort to be ready. Listen, you need to do that. That’s incumbent upon me as the commissioner to make sure that I have all the right relationships in all the right places. No different than when I got here, I had some preexisting relationships with ESPN and FOX, which certainly benefitted the conference when we went early. My goal is to set the table now and establish those relationships, if I don’t have them already, in order to be ready for ’30. I’m excited about that moment.”