An Open Letter to Commissioner Brett Yormark

What’s better than one media deal? Two. A letter detailing why the Big 12 should corner the basketball market.

Dear Brett,

Brett - I feel like I can call you that - let me start by saying that what I think you have done with this conference is nothing short of stellar. Keeping the Big 12 together when we were looking at losing Texas and Oklahoma, you fought back, bringing in four Group of 5 teams that all fit in well in a Power 5 league without being seen as “lesser replacements.”

Further, let me commend you for your work on securing the Big 12 a heck of a media deal, an average of ~$31 million payout per year for each team. Well done. Yet, I think we can do more and place this conference further ahead of the Power 5 leagues. Just hear me out. A separate media deal for football and basketball increases our payout and separates us from the rest of the pack.

Why would we want a separate media deal, you ask? Because, Brett, we are so close to cornering the market on being the best basketball conference in the country by a long shot! Now, it will require adding some schools in as basketball-only invites, such as UConn – the current national champion, Gonzaga, Villanova, and Marquette.

These four schools are among the highest revenue-producing for men’s and women’s basketball. The Big 12 already has several schools on the list of high-revenue producing schools. If the rumors are true that Arizona is also close to joining the league, guess what. They are also on the list. We could have one-third of the Top 25 right here in our league!

Selling the points to media executives wouldn’t be tough. Pitch the idea to CBS and sell them marquee matchups yearly, such as Kansas/Gonzaga, Texas Tech/UConn, Baylor/Villanova, and Arizona/Marquette. Right now, these matchups only have the potential to happen during March Madness, but make these yearly matchups and watch the cash start flowing in.

How would a separate basketball and football media deal work, you ask? Glad you did because I have a solution for it. As I mentioned earlier, you did a fantastic job with the ESPN/Fox media deal you got us, with a payout averaging close to $31 million a year.

Now, let’s restructure that deal to about $24 million a year and sell the rights to basketball for a deal equating to about $18 million a year per team. Sounds crazy, I know, but that’s an increase of $11 million a year for each team that are full members and a revenue increase for the added schools.

Here is where it gets interesting. The Big Ten media deal is around $50 million per school. This new deal puts us $9 million below theirs, but we are still playing in the big leagues, Brett. The gap isn’t as large anymore.

I’ll be honest here, Brett. We stand no chance of being the best conference in football - the SEC holds that title. Many will argue that they are the best baseball conference as well. So, why not corner the market on men’s basketball, the overwhelming second most popular sport in all college sports? Eyes will be glued to the TV in early February when a red-hot Top 5 ranked Gonzaga team goes into Allen Fieldhouse to take on the number one ranked Kansas team. Is this risky? Absolutely. Can we get these teams to join with basketball-only invites? I think so, Brett, and you are just the mastermind to get it done.

With regards,

JD 

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