Brett Yormark reveals impact of media rights on Big 12 private capital deal

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. 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. ” SUBSCRIBE to the On3 NIL and Sports Business Newsletter 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.