We’re going to find out soon what Plan B is for the Big 12 and incoming commissioner Brett Yormark.
ESPN first reported Monday evening that partnership talks with the beleaguered Pac-12 – that included discussions of a merger -- had broken off. A Big 12 source told ESPN that the merger, the preferred outcome for the conference, wouldn’t have driven enough revenue, for what would have been a humongous Frankenconference with 22 mouths to feed.
Plus there were concerns about the Big 12 TV rights not expiring until 2025, while the Pac-12 is currently going to the marketplace.
Presumably those obstacles could have been overcome if the numbers lined up.
There were other red flags about the whole thing.
Yormark won’t officially start his new gig until Aug. 1. And Pac-12 counterpart George Kliavkoff just celebrated his one-year anniversary on the job, one day after USC and UCLA bolted to the Big Ten.
One of those two was at best looking at a demotion or checking in with an executive headhunter.
And to be honest, high-ranking merger talks are probably best handled in person, not on three cross-country Zoom calls.
So what does the Big 12 do now?
It’s not a rhetorical question.
As ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit outlined what pretty much everybody in college football positions of authority are thinking during an appearance on First Take – that the era of super conferences has arrived.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we settle, ultimately, in three power conferences,” Herbstreit said.
Each would have about 20 schools, Herbstreit suggested. The SEC and Big Ten are two-thirds of the equation, leaving room for one more between the ACC, Pac-12 and the Big 12 or some combination thereof.
“What I want to know is what will happen to the teams who are left out of those 55 to 60 teams that ultimately are going to kind of be in this new world that we’re headed toward, where the College Football Playoff is kind of dictating it,” Herbstreit said.
The Big 12 would definitely like avoid experiencing that firsthand, which is where Yormark comes in.
The former executive for Roc Nation got hired in part because of his reputation as a dealmaker even though he’s a bit of a stranger in a strange land when it comes to college sports. Yormark famously declared the Big 12 as “open for business” at conference media days last week and mentioned his working relationships with ESPN and Fox.
He’ll need every bit of that working knowledge.
First order of business is trying to convince the Pac’s 12 “four corners” schools – Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State --- that they can make more money and be more secure in the Big 12. No doubt the Big 12′s TV consultants will be front and center. The trouble is, those four schools are still going to be waiting for harder numbers from ESPN after the Pac-12 decided for an early reopening of TV talks.
Beyond that, who knows?
Just a month ago, the Big 12 seemed like it was in a good space even with Oklahoma and Texas eventually leaving. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF were coming aboard to provide new markets and new blood.
Now that eventual 12-team Big 12 might be worst-case scenario.
