Brett Yormark Trending as Big 12 Commissioner Eyes Multiple CFP Bids and a Championship Game Replacement
With three undefeated teams in the top nine of the coaches poll, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is predicting multiple playoff bids and a plan to replace the league title game if the CFP grows to 24 teams.
Brett Yormark is having the kind of week he spent four years building toward. The Big 12 commissioner is trending nationwide as his league sits in the middle of the College Football Playoff conversation with three undefeated teams ranked inside the top nine of the coaches poll, while his comments about the future of conference championship games and the strength of Big 12 basketball keep rippling across college sports.
Yormark took over the Big 12 on Aug. 1, 2022, with a clear mission: make the conference relevant in every sport, and especially in football. A former business collaborator of Jay-Z, he has made disruption part of the league’s identity, and this fall the results are showing up on the field, on television and in the polls.
Big 12 Football Is Having Its Moment
The momentum started with BYU’s 28-24 win over Notre Dame, a game that more than nine million viewers watched. The Cougars trailed for fewer than five minutes in the first half and fewer than eight in the second against a team that entered as a 10-point favorite and was positioned to claim the nation’s No. 1 ranking after Georgia lost earlier that day. ESPN’s College GameDay then moved to Salt Lake City for No. 16 Houston at No. 9 Utah, another showcase for the league.
“When the rankings came out on Sunday, I was really happy, but not satisfied,” Yormark told USA TODAY Sports. “My goal from Day 1 was to make sure that this conference in all sports, but in particular football, was relevant and part of the national conversation. And I think this year we certainly are part of both.”
The stakes are real. Through two years of the expanded 12-team playoff, the Big 12 has produced the No. 4 seed both times and nobody else. Yormark wants that to change, and he is openly predicting a bigger Big 12 footprint in December. “I said at media days that we’d have multiple teams in the CFP,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was going to be two or three, but right now we want as many members in the CFP as we can get.” Six Big 12 teams have been ranked in the top 25 at some point this season, with a few more on the outside looking in. Bettors tracking how those playoff races shake out can use an odds and probability calculator to convert futures prices into implied chances.
What Happens to the Big 12 Championship Game?
The comment that has fueled much of the conversation came at Big 12 Basketball Media Days in Kansas City on Tuesday, Oct. 20. With reports circulating that the College Football Playoff could expand to 24 teams, Yormark said the league would pivot if expansion eliminated conference title games, and that the Big 12 would “replace” its championship game with another marquee event. He stressed that nothing is final and that the talk remains speculation.
“The Big 12 Championship is one of our marquee tent-pole events,” Yormark said, noting the league set an all-time attendance record at last December’s title game, which drew roughly 85,000 fans. In the days since, he has leaned into the idea that the league lives by the mantra of being a different league and likes to break boundaries. If the championship game does disappear, he has signaled the conference would look to build something in its place, framing the Big 12 as being “in the event business.”
The idea has drawn plenty of reaction because a 24-team field would reshape how conferences schedule their seasons, how champions are crowned and where marquee games land on the calendar. Utah coach Morgan Scalley has previously voiced support for a model featuring preseason bowl games, one possible direction as the sport debates what comes next.
Big 12 Basketball Second Only to the NBA
Yormark also made headlines on the hardwood side. At the same Kansas City event, he repeated a line he has been pushing for more than a year: “The Big 12 remains the second-best basketball league behind only the NBA. I think I said that last year, but I’m going to say it again this year.” He pointed to the conference’s draft production, recruiting success and the number of women’s programs sitting high in the NET rankings, and said the momentum and relevance of Big 12 basketball has never been better.
That claim lands as preseason polls and power rankings roll out. Saturday also brings a Big 12 football slate that includes Oklahoma State at Iowa State at 6 p.m. ET. For fans in states like Iowa where legal wagering is available, game-day interest in the conference has rarely been higher.
What Comes Next
The next few weeks will test Yormark’s bullishness. The league’s unbeaten teams still have to navigate a conference schedule full of ranked opponents, and the playoff committee’s first rankings will show whether the Big 12’s strong poll positioning translates into real seeding. Meanwhile, the CFP expansion question looms over everything. Whatever the format, Yormark has made it clear the Big 12 intends to lead the conversation rather than react to it.
For now, the commissioner has the national spotlight, a league full of ranked teams and a basketball season about to tip off. As he put it himself, he is happy but not satisfied.