BIG 12 CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 7, 2026

Brett Yormark

Ford Center at The Star

Commissioner Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark to the stage.

BRETT YORMARK: Thank you. Before I get started, my kids called me this morning, and they reminded me that this is my fourth Media Days. And they said, Dad, if you had trademarked that line you gave four years ago, you might not be working right now, which was the "open for business."

How many of you were here for my first one? Okay.

Well, glad to have you back, and let's get started.

Welcome to the 2026 Monster Energy Big 12 Football Media Days. It's great to be back at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, and I want to thank the Jones family and the Cowboys organization for hosting us. They do a terrific job for all of us.

I also want to thank our broadcast partners -- ESPN, Fox, and TNT -- who continue to make this league a priority.

I also want to thank our many ADs that are here today, our VIP guests, along with every member of the media for being here and for your continued coverage of our conference. All of you do a great job, and thank you.

I also want to send out a huge thank you to the entire Big 12 Conference staff for all their hard work. This is an enormous effort, and they do a great job.

Lastly, I am grateful to our partners at Monster Energy for their support of today's event. It's an exciting time to be in Dallas, as the city takes center stage during the FIFA World Cup. I am grateful I had the opportunity to experience the excitement in person yesterday in Arlington.

Football meets futbol is the theme of our Media Days this year. Like futbol, college football is about identity, community, and connection, the energy of packed stadiums and traditions that define each team.

To help us kick things off, I'd like to welcome Dan Hunt, North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee co-chair and FC Dallas president, to the stage. We're going to do a little gift exchange.

Dan, thank you for being here and for your leadership and vision. Football meets futbol is about a shared passion across sports. Let's take a look at how that comes to life at the Big 12.

(Video played.)

BRETT YORMARK: The Big 12 aims to be the most globally relevant conference in college athletics. We opened last season in Ireland and will play two international games this fall, including TCU opening the season in Dublin and Arizona State and Kansas competing in the first-ever college game at iconic Wembley Stadium.

In fact, Fox Big Noon Kickoff will take their show international for the first time and join us at the Union Jack Classic. Wherever Jordan Bazant is, I want to thank him, because that's a big deal for this conference, and we thank Fox for their continued support.

14% of our student-athletes come from outside the U.S. Six of our 16 institutions have campuses outside the U.S., including Arizona State's new campus in London opening this fall.

Our brand of football travels. It's fast, it's dynamic, and it's exciting. It resonates beyond our borders. The Big 12 proved to be the deepest and most competitive in the country last year with more late-game drama than any other conference, and the metrics show that. Our championship game drew more than 85,000 fans, the most attended in Power 4 history, with game viewership up 39%.

We had a conference-record 38 NFL Draft selections, including 11 in the first two rounds. While football is a powerful driver, I'm incredibly proud of what our student-athletes, coaches, and administrators have accomplished across all of our sports.

In basketball we had a conference record-tying eight NCAA tournament selections for both men's and women's. Nine of our men's players were selected in the first round of this year's NBA Draft, a conference record, including the No. 1 and No. 2 picks overall.

On the women's side, five players were selected in the WNBA draft, highlighted by the No. 2 pick overall. We set a conference record in team sports with 99 teams advancing to NCAA post-season play this past year, including record-setting representation in soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, softball, golf, and tennis.

Every school in this conference earned a post-season appearance this year, underscoring our shared commitment to excellence and competing at the highest levels. We will continue our commitment to growing Olympic sports and are excited to host our second Media Days for volleyball and debut an in-season challenge for the first time this fall.

To put a bow on this year's competition, I'm excited to announce the recipient of the inaugural Allstate Commissioner's Cup and winner of the Allstate Big 12 Championship Series. This award honors the Big 12 program that excelled both athletically and academically throughout the year.

This year's winner, Arizona.

I want to congratulate President Garimella, athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois, and all the great University of Arizona student-athletes. Let's give them a hand, please.

(Applause.)

Give a big hand to Desireé and Arizona.

(Applause.)

In addition to receiving the Commissioner's Cup Trophy, Arizona will receive a scholarship donation from Allstate in recognition of this great achievement.

I also want to recognize the recipients of the fourth annual Bob Bowlsby Award given to student-athletes who exemplify leadership and achievement both on and off the field.

This year's honorees are Jonny Kulow from Arizona State, swimming and diving; Olivia Miles from TCU women's basketball; and Juliette Laracuente-Huebner from Cincinnati track and field. Congratulations to each of you. Let's give them a hand.

(Applause.)

It was also a great year for the Big 12 off the field and court. This is my fourth Media Days, and I've always viewed our path forward in three phases: stabilize, build, and grow. We are now in full growth mode, and one of our top priorities is to create value for our member institutions.

Sponsorship revenue this year was up 182%, and in the coming weeks we will share more news to continue that momentum, but today I have a very special announcement. Last year we entered a partnership with Monster Energy to be the official energy drink of the Big 12, and today we build on that with Monster Energy becoming the entitlement partner of Big 12 Football and Big 12 Basketball regular seasons.

Monster Energy represents drive, edge, ambition, qualities that mirror our student-athletes and the Big 12 Conference. Our multi-year partnership is a first of its kind, built on the right brand and cultural alignment. Monster Energy is the No. 1 energy drink domestically and will take this conference to places it has not been before.

The global nature of who they are aligns with our global aspirations. Monster Energy is sold in approximately 159 countries. During the regular season Big 12 Football, men's and women's basketball will be branded as Monster Energy Big 12 Football and Monster Energy Big 12 Basketball for all conference-controlled assets and platforms.

A co-branded Monster Energy and Big 12 Conference logo will be featured on football and basketball jerseys, fields and courts, with additional integration across conference digital and social media channels.

Mitch Covington, Monster Energy's global chief partnership officer, is here with us today to celebrate this partnership along with his colleagues.

Mitch, please stand up. Mitch, we've been friends -- let's give Mitch a big hand, please.

(Applause.)

Mitch and I have been friends for years. And, Mitch, I appreciate your growing support of the Big 12 Conference. Trust me when I say this to you, we will deliver big for you and Monster Energy. Thank you for everything.

Mitch will be available today if any of you have any questions regarding our partnership.

As we turn the page to the upcoming football season, our momentum continues to build as we remain patiently aggressive in everything we do. We're excited to welcome four new football coaches this year: Collin Klein of Kansas State, Eric Morris at Oklahoma State, Jimmy Rogers at Iowa State, and Morgan Scalley at Utah.

The Big 12, again, will be the conference of quarterbacks, with six returning starters and one of the strongest portal classes in the country at the position. Our competitive depth will fuel another exciting run to the Big 12 Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and position multiple Big 12 programs firmly in the college football conversation -- playoff conversation.

We will also use our championship game to celebrate America 250. This fall we'll also introduce live replay review conversations, building on live replay center look-ins that were introduced last year, and we will also open a new replay operations center in 2027, as previously announced.

We'll continue to strengthen our partnership with the NFL, further developing our four core principles of officiating, flag football, international growth, and driving innovation across all levels of the game. Over the next 12 months, I look forward to working with my fellow P4 commissioners on issues that affect all of us, including the future of a College Football Playoff.

We've begun formal discussions around expansion and the right format moving forward. I've said it before, more access is needed as too many great teams are still left out. I've also said before we still need to work through the economics and scheduling and address any unintended consequences.

There's been a lot of movement on the Hill. I want to applaud Senators Cruz and Cantwell for introducing the Protect College Sports Act. This bipartisan legislation represents an important step toward a more consistent national approach, providing a strong foundation for greater stability, clearer standards, and meaningful protections for our student-athletes.

I plan on being on the Hill next week to have further discussions regarding the bill and its refinement.

We just completed year one of the College Sports Commission, and like any startup, there have been challenges. However, I'm encouraged by the foundation in place and the discussions around the adjustments we are addressing for year two.

I also want to commend Charlie Baker and the NCAA as they embrace reform in key areas, including eligibility and tampering, reflecting the broader changes shaping college athletics.

Sports betting remains an industry-wide concern. We are extending our partnership with IC360 to monitor activity and expand education and support for our student-athletes.

There has never been a better time than right now to be part of this conference. We look forward to moving ahead as 16 strong and leveraging our scale and collective influence within college athletics to deliver monster moments all year long.

Our conference goal is to be great every day for our student-athletes and for our member institutions. I want to thank you all for being here, and I'll take some questions. Thank you.

Q. Just curious if throughout the Brendan Sorsby situation, if you supported Texas Tech at any point throughout that, and if that changed, what may have caused you to change your mind on that.

BRETT YORMARK: Let me start off by saying I appreciate the question. I appreciate other questions that are probably going to come forth today.

Today is not the time to address that issue. Today is about celebrating the upcoming football season and celebrating our 16 schools, but I appreciate the question, so thank you.

Q. I wanted to ask you, you mentioned about expansion and being able to expand the conference and obviously the game of college football. What steps do you need to take to be able to expand but not have an overkill and be able to get on one accord with the rest of the conferences to be able to try to make that happen?

BRETT YORMARK: Are you talking about expansion from a standpoint of member institutions?

Q. Member institutions, yes.

BRETT YORMARK: The only way I'm going to address that is I love the makeup of our conference right now. You know, you think about the composition of the Big 12. We've added eight institutions over the last three to four years. It's taken a lot of time and effort to build cohesion. I think we're finally there.

I don't think as a conference we're the best version of ourselves. We've got some work to still do, but we're well on our way. As I said in my closing comments, there's never been a better time to be part of this conference than right now. But thank you for the question.

Q. How important is it for Big 12 schools to continue playing out-of-conference rivalry games in football, and does that change if you go to a ten-game schedule?

BRETT YORMARK: I'm sorry. Can you say that again? I didn't hear that.

Q. How important is it to continue playing out-of-conference rivalry games?

BRETT YORMARK: I think out-of-conference games are critically important. You know, Scott Draper and I discuss that all the time, and we'll continue to discuss that on a go-forward basis.

You mentioned something about ten conference games, or no?

Q. Does that change? If you go to ten games, does it change the willingness to play out-of-conference rivalry games?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, listen, as it relates to ten conference games, it's something I brought up at the spring business meetings, and that will be predicated on where we end up or not in the College Football Playoff expansion. All those variables are interconnected, if you will, and we'll address them when we need to. But out-of-conference games are critically important.

Q. Commissioner, what did you learn about the evaluation process for the College Football Playoff that you want to tell your member institutions, and what are your feelings about the College Football Playoff and the number of teams that are involved at this point?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, the College Football Playoff is obviously something that's been top of mind for me for quite some time. We've talked about different formats and how do you expand it or not.

That work really, in earnest, is starting now. I just returned a few weeks ago from Colorado where the Management Committee came together, and we started discussing what the possibilities might look like. As I said in my opening comments, we need more access. I'm a firm believer in that. The Big 12 is a firm believer in that.

Where that takes us, I can't tell you today. I don't have a crystal ball, but I want more access. And I think that's the right thing for us to consider. We're doing the appropriate due diligence right now. But thank you for your question.

Q. You mentioned international games and things like that. What other locations or how big of a role is international play going to be in the league going forward?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, I mean, I've said it before, and I'm on the record. We have global ambitions as a conference. Obviously we're playing two games overseas this year. 14% of our student-athletes come from outside this country, and 6 of our 16 institutions have campuses outside of the U.S. So it's something that we need to continue to do our due diligence on.

I do like the NFL model and where they're going. I like the NBA and where they're going. If you think about where we've played internationally, it's pretty consistent and aligns well with where the NFL and the NBA have been. We'll see where we go in the future.

But I'm excited about the possibilities. There's a lot of interest in Europe for what we do here at the Big 12, and we'll determine what's next and what's right. But thank you for your question.

Q. When it comes to the Playoff, it appeared the Big 12 and the ACC were on the side of a 16-team format several months ago. It appears that has flipped. The desire for more access really hasn't changed. What were the factors that made you shift towards the 24? Secondary question, if we do go 24, it looks like we lose the Big 12 Championship game. Is that just collateral damage that you're willing to accept?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, first of all, great question. I liked 16 initially as I learned more about it. Obviously without the additional eight Qs, okay?

When 24 became part of the conversation, we've done our own conference due diligence around it, and we think it might be a great fit for us. We discussed it most recently in our spring business meeting with our coaches. Across the board they liked it, and we continue to have those conversations with our ADs and our presidents.

We do need to understand the economics. Is there a marketplace to go to 24? We have to understand the scheduling dynamic and what that means and the unintended consequences, which I said earlier.

As it relates to our championship game, I think I've said it before, that's a huge tent-pole event for us. We had over 85,000 attend last year, and our ratings were up 39%. It's a big deal for us. There are economics that go with that champ game.

So as we consider 24, we've got to look at what we have and what potentially we might gain and ultimately make the best decision for the Big 12, but everything is on the table. Thank you.

Q. My question is, with the gambling situation that the conference dealt with in the past year, we had multiple parties making multiple assertions, threatens in a courtroom, including two different State's Attorneys kind of weighing in on what was going to happen or what should happen. What is the conference doing as you look to celebrate this year and protect the game moving forward? What is the conference doing to ensure that the resolution of these situations happens within a byline or guidelines of the conference and not in a courtroom?

BRETT YORMARK: I appreciate the question. I'll just start off by saying integrity for the game is critically important. For all sports for this conference, we will continue to work with our student-athletes to educate them and to help guide them in this new environment.

You know, when I grew up, sports betting wasn't as available as it is today. It's a different world that student-athletes are growing up in, and they need to be educated, and that's the role that we are taking alongside of our member institutions. But thank you for the question.

Q. So I just wanted to talk about with AT&T Stadium seeing such international, I guess you would say, love from everybody that's been there, what is your plan for this with 250 celebration being there for the championship at the end of the season?

BRETT YORMARK: It's a great question. We have not gone to work yet on what that looks like, but that's one of our biggest moments of the year, our champ game, and everything leads to AT&T Stadium. So we think it's a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate America 250. Thank you for your question.

Q. Commissioner, Texas Tech got fined over tortillas, and tortillas were banned outright. OSU paddles broken always (indiscernible) has a tradition (indiscernible) exemption. Sorsby never played a snap for the Red Raiders. Big 12 sued them anyway, while Cincinnati hasn't been yet touched. You're selling greater than 12. Why should Texas Tech fans believe it?

BRETT YORMARK: Can you say -- let me come closer to you. Stand up and ask that question again, and I'm going to give you the answer I want to give you. So go ahead.

Q. Texas Tech got fined for tortillas, and tortillas were banned outright. OSU has had paddles that were given a noisemaker exemption back in 2012. Sorsby never played a snap for the Red Raiders, and yet there's a lawsuit. Cincinnati has yet to be touched. You're selling greater than 12. Why should Texas Tech fans believe that?

BRETT YORMARK: No, I didn't say greater than 12. You misquoted me. I said we're going forward as 16 strong, and that's my answer to your question, but thank you for that question. Appreciate it.

Q. As private equity becomes more and more prominent in the sport, a lot of universities still depend on alumni bases, fundraisers, stuff like that. Some see private equity as controversial, albeit some necessary. How do you see the future of private equity breaking in specifically into the Big 12, and what is that going to look like?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, that's a great question, but you might not have been reading what has been gone on in the Big 12. So we were at the forefront of private equity when I first got here. We explored all different options, from private equity to debt, you name it.

Each conference, each school, has to do what's in their best interest. We landed in a place that I felt was a great partnership with RedBird. It's all about business development. It's not about traditional private equity.

We like where we've landed. We think we're in a really good place. We have a strategic partnership with RedBird. It's all about growing the conference and taking advantage of their ecosystem.

But I can't speak to where private equity lands in college athletics because every situation is different, whether it be at a conference level or at a school level. But thank you for your question.

Q. A question for you about the Protect College Sports Act. You've been vocal in support of that piece of legislation. What do you think are the specific strengths, and what would you tweak to improve it?

BRETT YORMARK: It's a great question. First of all, I'll start off by saying I've probably spent more time on the Hill in this job in the last four years than I have throughout my entire career, and it was necessary. I think when you go to people and ask for help, you're not going to get back exactly what you want, okay? That's life.

When I look at the bill -- and I've had lots of conversations with Senator Cantwell and Senator Cruz; in fact, I'll be there next week -- there was a lot of negotiation that was being done, a lot of horse-trading that was being done.

I look at where we've landed right now as progress over perfection. Nothing is going to be perfect, but the question is, can we make progress? Are we better off with a bill than without one?

So to answer your question, when I think about some of the elements of the bill that I like, it starts with agent restrictions, which we need. Federal preemption, limited liability protection, the transfer portal, eligibility, cap circumvention, just to name a few.

They're not perfect as currently written, but they will help resolve some of the chaos that's currently in the system and deliver a more stable model for collegiate athletics moving forward.

Next week I'll be on the Hill, and we'll discuss areas that could be tweaked and refined, but I think at the core there's a lot in there to like. It's not perfect, don't get me wrong, okay, but there's a lot to like. And I know, having spoken to both Senators, again, it was a major negotiation, and you got to have give and take in those situations. But thank you for the question.

Q. So back in May the Big 12 became the first Power 4 school to have all of its members sign a participation agreement, and we know that's coming with battling NIL, you know, salary cap, revenue sharing. Can you expand on how that's going along up until this point?

BRETT YORMARK: Well, listen, we did sign the participation agreement. I think signing that participation agreement shows that all of our schools share the same vision and mission for the go-forward, and we want rules, and we want rules enforced. That's the message behind signing the participation agreement.

On some of the adjustments that are being made at the College Sports Commission, I'm not at liberty to discuss those right now, but as I said earlier in my comments, the CSC is a startup. Like any startup, you're going to have challenges, and then you have to address those challenges. I think we've been very fluid throughout the last six months in addressing some of those challenges.

I think on a go-forward basis, as we think about year two, we're going to have to probably make some more meaningful adjustments. I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and partner with my other P4 commissioners in order to get to the right place. Thank you for your question.

Q. I wanted to ask you, BYU fans and the team have experienced religious derogatory remarks last season. I wanted to ask you about what steps are being taken by the conference to help prevent that from happening this upcoming season?

BRETT YORMARK: First of all, it's a great question. Thank you for asking that question today. I can tell you I speak on behalf of my role as Commissioner as well as my 16 institutions. We have a zero tolerance for that kind of behavior on a go-forward basis. Zero tolerance.

We have a meeting set up with the presidents which make up our board and our ADs in August to address that situation and that topic very intentionally to make sure we are better next year.

As I said in my closing comments, my goal, our collective goal, is to be great every day for our student-athletes, for our member institutions, for our communities that we live in, and we plan on being better next year, for sure. But thank you for that question.

Thank you, everyone. Appreciate your time today.