Two years ago, Brett Yormark, the new Big 12 commissioner, made headlines when he said the conference was “open for business.” He was widely expected to plan to aggressively pursue expansion for the conference, but Yormark made it clear he intended to be aggressive on all fronts, including finding creative ways to grow revenue.
“I would say we're more open for business than we've ever been,” Yormark said Friday at the conclusion of the Big 12's spring business meetings in Irving.
Under a settlement reached last week in the House v. NCAA lawsuit, the NCAA will pay current and former players about $2.8 billion in damages over 10 years for the use of their names, images and likenesses. The agreement, which is subject to approval by a federal judge, also paves the way for revenue sharing, creating a system in which top schools will make direct payments to athletes — just over $20 million per school — beginning in the fall of 2025.
Related:How will Texas Tech handle changes proposed by NCAA president Charlie Baker?
more:Texas Tech's athletic department reported record revenue of $146.8 million for fiscal year 2023.
“I think we ultimately came to a fair and reasonable conclusion,” Yormark said.
While they were prohibited from paying players in the past, athletic departments in recent decades have spent surging revenues on adding staff, building flashy facilities and raising coaches' salaries, including paying millions of dollars to fired coaches.
Now we need to add the player payroll elements.
Big 12 Chair: Funding and allocation decisions are first two challenges
“First, we need to figure out where the money is going to come from,” Baylor University President Linda Livingston said at a joint press conference with Yormark. “That's probably the biggest question, especially with the limited time we have. We probably have 12 to 14 months to figure out what we're going to do with that first year's allocation.”
Second, Livingston, the Big 12 Board of Governors chairman, said the athletics department must determine how to distribute compensation among teams and between male and female players with the uncertainty of whether Title IX considerations will apply.
“In some ways we're still working on models without understanding the full picture, so I think the next six to eight months will probably be really, really important because we'll hopefully get all the questions clarified and we'll have a better understanding of how to allocate,” Livingston said.
Private equity groups have expressed interest in recent months in developing mutually beneficial relationships with university programs, and Yormark hasn't ruled out the possibility.
“In some ways, I think private equity is a validation of the direction of this industry and the growth trajectory that we're on,” he said. “So I don't see it as a bad thing. Private equity likes to go into industries that are in growth mode, and we're certainly in growth mode.”
Having corporate logos on stadiums and uniforms is also being considered as another revenue source that could help offset salary costs.
Will an agreement on paying athletes encourage universities to cut sports?
Asked earlier this year about the possibility of universities considering cutting sports teams, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said he thought the NCAA's minimum sports sponsorship requirements would be reevaluated. Currently, a university must sponsor 16 teams to be a member of Division I. Texas Tech is one above the minimum requirement.
Less than two years after being hired as Ohio University's AD, Hocutt felt compelled to cut four sports teams in 2007 to address a $4 million budget deficit and comply with Title IX requirements.
Asked Friday about cutting sports to cut costs, Livingston said he hopes that won't happen.
“I think one of the strengths of college sports in this country is the diversity of sports we offer, the breadth of participation in many sports,” she said. “In fact, the Olympic movement is world “If we can find a revenue-sharing methodology that helps U.S. college sports continue to push for and continue to support Olympic competition at a high level, it will not only benefit U.S. student-athletes, it will really benefit athletics around the world.”
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The conference match reports have been released:Hocutt asked the Big 12 after the Tech-TCU game how to “hold the umpires more accountable.”
The dismantling of amateurism in college sports is looming, and Big 12 leaders say they've been preparing for that day.
“I look at this as kind of a reset for the industry,” Yormark said, “and we're preparing for it. AD, myself and the board have been talking about this reset for quite some time, so it's not a surprise and I think we're very well prepared for it.”
Yormark announced that the Big 12's annual revenue share will be the highest this year at about $470 million, but the addition of first-year members Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston will dilute the share of the 10 remaining members.
Traditional schools, including Texas Tech, will receive about $39.8 million each. BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston will receive $18 million this year, $19 million next year and the full amount thereafter.
