Conference realignment remains a hot topic even with the Big 12 adding Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State but there's another interesting item at play.
Brett Yormark has made it quite clear that he believes that The Big 12 media rights for basketball have more value than they are currently perceived.
The premier college basketball conference nationally, the league has won two of the last three national championships and was by far the gold standard league in every metric from this past-season despite falling short in the NCAA Tournament.
And the league has now added powerhouse Arizona and some other strong programs from the Pac-12 as well to make a strong league even better.
So there should obviously be an appetite for the level of basketball being played in the league from a television perspective.
But how much so? And how can it be done?
The idea of looking to monetize basketball in a way that has never been done before is something that has been on the mind of Yormark for quite some time.
Related: Is Gonzaga back on the radar for the Big 12?
The idea essentially is to double-down on basketball in order to use the often-forgotten avenue as an additional potential revenue stream.
That could mean asking more for the basketball portion of the contract or perhaps even unbundling it entirely from the package and selling those rights separately the next time the Big 12 hits the market for a media rights deal during the 2030-31 year.
In the upcoming deal, which begins in 2025, the league will play games on both ESPN and FOX as part of the six-year agreement bringing even more overall exposure.
It's a deal that helped to lure Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State into the league from the Pac-12 paying them a total of $31.7 million per year as full members.
But Yormark has made it clear that the focus moving forward will be how to create more value and maximize what basketball can return when it comes time to go to market once again.
That interest in potentially creating more revenue off of the basketball media rights is something that has drawn the league to previously discuss the possible addition of Gonzaga for example as a basketball only member.
The Bulldogs don’t play football and while those talks have slowed with the addition of the Pac-12 schools that type of addition would serve to only further bolster the strength of a conference that is already considered at the top of the food chain.
It's why the topic recently picked back up in the news as a possibility with the Big 12 looking at the Bulldogs as a fit in the league as a basketball only member.
The biggest key here will be just how appealing the basketball rights for the league will be when that time comes but for now it’s simply a very interesting proposal that could lead to more.
Imagine a basketball version of the Big 12 that could possibly include outside additions to the full members to further bolster the league. It’s a way to basically develop a stranglehold on the sport like the SEC currently has at least in terms of competition.
It seems unlikely at this stage for additions outside the 16 already in the fold but it's at least something to consider in the future as it looks at separating the rights.
The Big 12 doesn’t do this unless the returns are lucrative but with a league that is one of the best in college basketball at the moment it does make a lot of sense to explore whether this could create an additional revenue stream.
The focus is clear moving ahead and now it’s about seeing just how much the return can be if the Big 12 doubles down even harder on their premier sport.
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