LAS VEGAS — In the middle of Big 12 football media day, inside the air-conditioned confines of Allegiant Stadium on a scorching desert day, a costumed mascot — BYU’s furry gray cougar — plays happily with Cincinnati’s bear cat as Utah’s athletic director watches from afar.
Mark Harlan, the Utes’ longtime administrator, recalls the unusual and perhaps unthinkable scene that reflects a new reality: BYU and Cincinnati are in the same conference as Utah. And Colorado and Arizona State. And Kansas. And Iowa State. And Central Florida.
Yes, Harlan said, it’s weird. It’s a little surreal, almost unbelievable that a year ago Harlan was walking a few blocks from here at Pac-12 media day and just 18 months ago his team won the Pac-12 championship in this very venue.
“Now,” he said, “here we are playing for the Big 12.”
It’s all very strange, but also exciting, Harlan said. New teams. New locations. And a brash new commissioner who confidently kicked off the two-day event here with a fiery, hour-long presentation in which he boastfully described his league as one of the top three in the country.
Dressed in a tailored gray suit and crisp red tie, Brett Yormark strode across the elevated stage in front of more than 500 members of the media, much like a WWE wrestler stalking the ring, ripping and roaring, doing not-so-subtle pirouettes and moves, as he took on his rivals, including the ACC.
“We’ve established 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 today than ever.”
“I’m not going to stop until we’re the No. 1 conference in America,” he added later.
His remarks were eerily similar to those he made a year ago at the Big 12’s media day, when he began publicly courting four Pac-12 schools by telling the world his league was “open for business,” a phrase he has repeated ever since. He ultimately got those schools — Arizona, ASU, Utah and Colorado — in one of two sweeps that sank the 108-year-old conference (the other was the Big Ten’s sweep of Washington and Oregon).
A year later, here at the site of the Pac-12’s final football championship game, the Big 12 continues to explore the possibility of expansion, he said. That wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for one fact: Two ACC members are actively trying to leave the ACC.
“I think we can say we’re still open for business,” he said with a smile. “This is not the time to press pause.”
In an industry that is constantly evolving, Yormark is always in step with events, not on the sidelines. An outside-the-box thinker, he has presented his members with several concepts with the goal of generating more value and revenue to compete with the big boys (Big Ten and SEC) and keep pace, or stay ahead, as Yormark puts it, of the ACC.
The Big 12 is exploring a naming rights deal (with Allstate) and exploring investments in private equity firms. Yormark is lobbying the NCAA to allow his conference to add corporate patches to officials’ uniforms, which could generate millions of dollars in sponsorship deals. He plans to take women’s soccer and baseball teams to Mexico for international competitions.
He describes himself as a “disruptor,” someone who “stirs things up.”
“College football needs this,” he jokes.
But not all of those proposals will come to fruition, or have come to fruition. Within its own league, there is often backlash against ideas that some call innovative and others call extreme. For example, a plan to add Gonzaga was abandoned. And while Yormark is once again interested in adding UConn, his bid remains uncertain. The Big 12’s foray into Mexico, now devoted to football and baseball, was originally supposed to include basketball and soccer (the latter appear to have been abandoned).
Support for a league-wide private equity deal that distributes $50 million in additional revenue to each school could require an extension of the rights grant — a hurdle some won’t clear. On naming rights, there is broad support among members for changing the Big 12’s name to “Allstate 12” in a groundbreaking deal that could distribute millions of dollars more to schools. But a host of complications could derail the deal.
And what about the ACC? The league’s situation is dire enough that some here in Las Vegas are focused on the future of the conference as Florida State and Clemson scramble to break free.
“What’s going on with FSU?” one Big 12 head coach asked.
“Do you know what’s going on at the ACC?” one administrator asked.
“Jim Phillips is in a really bad situation!” added another.
Ironically, a similar buzz took place a year ago at Big 12 media day…about the Pac-12.
Will Yormark find enough financial resources to land a spot at Clemson or FSU, or both? Will he launch another torpedo that will destroy another conference?
We may still be a long way from an ACC resolution. But we are on the verge of a month of unusual media events like the one in Las Vegas. Then comes the spotlight of the SEC media days, which come from Dallas, where the Big 12 usually holds its events. Texas and Oklahoma will make their first appearances 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. This Friday, July 26, is traditionally reserved for the Pac-12’s media day.
Instead, the league’s other two schools, Washington State and Oregon State, will hold a scaled-down version of a media event Wednesday night here in Vegas. Meanwhile, their 10 former league partners are spread out across the country: two in the ACC, four in the Big Ten and four more here in the Big 12.
Yogi Roth was also on hand Tuesday for the Big 12’s opening day. He’s 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 studio host. In fact, Roth hosted last year’s Pac-12 media day, the final version of it — or maybe not. He’s convinced some version of the Pac-12 will reform someday.
This is simply a “unique window of opportunity” for conference reorganization, he said. At some point, he wonders, won’t schools revert to their geographic and cultural footprints?
“What hurts the most is that the Pac-12 was at its best. That’s what matters,” he said, glancing 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 doing Big Ten play this year. “I wouldn’t be shocked if Oregon won the Big Ten. You start to think about it. There’s a lot of really talented West Coast teams that really started to peak when the NIL and the transfer portal started.”
“Now you think…Utah plays Central Florida on Friday night at the end of the season? How does that make sense? This part comes down to asking what are we doing in college sports?”
Across the field, Harlan trots toward lunch in the bowels of Allegiant Stadium while telling a story. On the flight to Las Vegas on Monday, Utah players asked their athletic director a question: During Big 12 media day, can we talk positively about the Pac-12?
Harlan said it led to a thoughtful conversation during the flight. Sure, he told them, you can talk positively about the Pac-12. Express your feelings. Say what you feel.
“There’s a narrative about the Pac-12 and if you weren’t a part of it, it’s easy to make fun of it, but if you were a part of it and you fought for it, you have a great respect for the era and the people that were there,” Harlan said. “Our players loved competing in the Pac-12 and it did great things for the university and great things for them as well. You’re talking about guys who won two championships in this league and in this stadium.”
“It’s just crazy.”