CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — No major conference has experienced more turmoil during the past 15 years than the Big 12, and Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard has experienced all of it up close.
This year, it’s different. Pollard, who ranks fourth in longevity among Power 5 athletic directors, has a wider smile and bouncier steps these days. The Big 12, seemingly always on life support, has 12 members unified beginning in 2024, and its future appears stable.
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“I never have felt stronger about the fabric of the Big 12,” Pollard said Tuesday during a stop on the Cyclone Caravan. “I’ve done this for 18 years. Quite frankly, for 16 1/2 years, I still have the scars, the scabs, the bruises from the Big 12 being the conference that was ready to implode.”
Pollard was at Kansas City’s Intercontinental Hotel when the Pac-10 invited six Big 12 members. A two-week whirlwind produced only Colorado and Nebraska as departures, but it was just the precursor to a decade-plus of volatility. In 2011, Oklahoma and Texas flirted with the Pac-12 a second time, which further destabilized the conference and caused Texas A&M and Missouri to leave for the SEC. Then TCU and West Virginia joined the Big 12 as replacements, which provided an unsteady salve until 2021 when Oklahoma and Texas announced they would bolt for the SEC. Those schools leave in 2024, but Big 12 additions BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF begin play this fall.
Once Oklahoma and Texas exit, the Big 12 will have 12 members that are similar institutions with comparable revenues and expenses. According to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, eight of the 12 schools reported football revenues between $30 million and $60 million during the 2021 fiscal year. Texas and Oklahoma made $161 million and $131 million, respectively, in football revenue that year.
Last fall, the Big 12 reached a six-year media rights agreement starting in 2025, and members will receive about $50 million annually in Big 12 distribution. That figure includes NCAA men’s basketball tournament revenue, expanded College Football Playoff and bowl payouts plus each school’s individually sold third-tier media rights revenue. Last year, the conference dispersed a record $42.6 million to each member, not including third-tier media rights.
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With expansion a possibility, the Big 12 appears solidified. That’s especially true with the Pac-12’s future media rights agreements still undetermined, seven ACC schools reviewing their grant of rights deals and the Big Ten yet to finalize its long-form media rights deals for this fall that were agreed upon in August.
The buzz around the seven ACC schools in the spotlight this week has posed an interesting question for the other major conferences:
Might those schools be looking for new landing spots?@NicoleAuerbach & @max_olson break it down:https://t.co/qtffMyvDWP
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 18, 2023
“I don’t wish ill will upon any of my peers,” Pollard said. “But it is fascinating to hear, not only the Pac-12 problems, but now the ACC has got their own Groundhog Day. It reminds me of the Big 12 from 2010-12. Then even to hear the latest news out of the Big Ten about the Fox and NBC challenges, for once the Big 12 is not having issues. So it’s kind of refreshing.”
With comparable revenues comes the potential for competitive balance, which has been on display among the Big 12 holdovers and newcomers. During the past three seasons, six Big 12 squads (Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, TCU, Oklahoma) have qualified for New Year’s Six bowls, while Cincinnati earned invitations after the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During the past 10 seasons, UCF has three New Year’s Six appearances (2013, 2017, 2018) and Houston has one (2015). Cincinnati qualified for the College Football Playoff in 2021, while TCU did last year. TCU became the first Big 12 team to win a CFP game and advanced to the national championship.
Since 2017, four Big 12 holdovers and all four newcomers have totaled at least 42 wins. UCF (59) and Cincinnati (57) top the list, followed by Oklahoma State (52). BYU and TCU each have 47. BYU (61,647) and Iowa State (60,704) posted the largest average attendance among the new-look Big 12 teams last fall.
“Competitively, things are up for grabs, and that makes it really exciting for our coaches,” Pollard said. “And that’s what you want. Somebody’s going to emerge in this new Big 12 as kind of king of the mountain, and Iowa State is as well positioned at this moment in time for that new frontier as we’ve ever been.”
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Realignment rumors: ACC meetings, UConn on Big 12 radar, Pac-12 update
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has made no secret about his desire to expand beyond the incoming quartet, should possible schools provide the right fit. When asked about whether a former Big 12 member (Colorado) could fit that description, Pollard smiled and said, “Who would that be? That would be some interesting dynamics.”
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“What we wanted to do is be positioned that if there were other conferences that had issues, that the Big 12 would be a great landing spot,” Pollard said. “But we don’t need anybody to come to the Big 12. So we’re not actively looking to expand. But if the opportunity exists, we’re ready to expand.
“We feel really good about what the future holds with the four new members coming in this year. Those fan bases are excited. Their institutions are fired up. And we think we’re in a really good spot.”
(Photo: Scott Dochterman / The Athletic)
