Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark on Expansion: ‘Right Now, We’re Done’

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark met with the media of the new teams joining in 2024 this week. Yormark was asked about future expansion within the conference and if the Big 12 will look to add even more teams.

“Right now, we’re done,” Yormark told The Arizona Republic. “We had a vision. We had a strategy and effectively we’ve been able to execute it. Initially, I wasn’t sure if we’d go to 14 or 16. I think 16 was kind of a dream scenario.”

Yormark’s dream goal of 16 schools for the 2024 year has been reached. Now the objective is to get everyone settled into the conference as the Big 12 adds eight new teams in 2023 and 2024.

“So from our perspective, our focus now is to integrate the four incoming schools as quickly as we can,” Yormark said. “Get them comfortable. We feel really good about our future and what our membership composition looks like when you look at it in terms of where we were and where we are and where we’re going.”

Conference realignment is currently changing the landscape of college athletics during this stage. It all started in 2021 with Oklahoma and Texas departing the Big 12 for the SEC starting in 2024. The Big 12 rebutted that move by adding BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston for 2023.

Over the past two summers, the Pac-12 has been picked apart. UCLA, Oregon, USC and Washington will head to the Big Ten in 2024 while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will go to the Big 12 that same year.

With the uncertainty of the Pac-12 and the unknown of the AAC and Mountain West conferences, the Big 12 will take a step back for now and see how everything plays out.

Click here for Mike Asti’s in-depth discussion with a CBS analyst about conference realignment and the future of college sports.

Mike Drop: The Good, Bad & Wacky of Conference Realignment with CBS Sports Analyst