ARLINGTON, Texas — The Big 12 is continuing to explore further expansion, in an announcement its new commissioner made Wednesday during his introductory press conference in Arlington.
Brett Yormark, addressing the media for the first time since his hiring in the opening press conference at the conference's football Media Days, said "I'm actively engaged in realignment."
Yormark did not offer an further elaboration except for, "Nothing is imminent."
The comment comes roughly a week removed from CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd reporting that the conference is in "deep discussions" with Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State to join the league in response to USC and UCLA bolting the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.
"I think it's fair to say I've received a lot of phone calls, a lot of interest," Yormark said Wednesday. "People understand the direction of the Big 12 and we're exploring those levels of interest. Nothing is imminent, but we're working hard to make sure that we position the Big 12 in the best possible way on a go-forward basis."
The Big 12 was the first conference affected during this round of conference realignment, when Texas and Oklahoma announced roughly eight days after Bob Bowlsby's State of the Big 12 address they'd leave the conference for the SEC by 2025.
Wednesday, before starting in his role in an official capacity, Yormark was asked about the future of the conference as it pertains to the Sooners and Longhorns.
"I'm sure there's going to be a moment in time where we're going to sit down and discuss the future," Yormark said. "Obviously I don't start until Aug. 1st, and I look forward to doing that. That's really all I can say at this point in time."
The conference had previously confirmed its four new members BYU, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF would all join the conference on July 1, 2023, but the date of Texas and Oklahoma's exit is still simply, "No later than July 2025, when the current grant of rights expires."
The new commissioner has experience with Jay Z's ROC Nation agency, something which, alongside his media rights experience with NASCAR, was part of what the Big 12's executive search committee was looking for.
Wednesday, he mentioned that it will help him navigate the crazy name, image and likeness world. But, he did say his first impressions are that nobody really knows how to move forward, yet, just that he has some initial impressions.
"I think there needs to be guardrails," Yormark said. "There probably needs to be uniformity. Maybe the conference needs to take a bigger role in what NIL looks like going forward. But I think, given my background, having spent so much time in the commercial space, I'm very well-suited for NIL in whatever form it takes on a go-forward basis."
Yormark doesn't officially start in his new role until Aug. 1st, but he made one thing very clear as the 2022 college football season unofficially kicked off in Arlington.
"We're open for business."
