Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark to leave after 2026 season

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark announced Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, that he is leaving. His tenure ends Jan. 31, 2027. Hired in 2022 as the fifth commissioner in the league's 32-year history after leading Roc Nation and the Brooklyn Nets, he succeeded Bob Bowlsby. After Texas and Oklahoma left for the SEC, the conference expanded to 16 schools, adding Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12 plus earlier BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. Yormark secured a six-year, $2.28 billion media-rights deal with ESPN and Fox through 2031, a record $610.9 million distribution for 2024-25, and a $12.5 million private-capital framework with RedBird Capital Partners. A three-year extension signed about a year and a half earlier was to run through 2030. Yormark said the next commissioner inherits a conference that is "16 Strong." Kansas Chancellor Douglas A. Girod said that without Yormark pushing an early television redo, "we all believe we could have ended up like the Pac-12 did, which was unable to get [a TV deal]." Yormark clashed with Texas Tech Board of Regents chairman Cody Campbell over Friday night football; Campbell called Friday Night Lights sacred in Texas, and Yormark answered that Campbell does not run the Big 12 and Friday games outperformed average ratings by 64% in 2025. A basketball tournament court design drew fire; Yormark said it was about student-athletes, and a 2026 LED glass surface was scrapped mid-tournament for hardwood. Days earlier, TCU hosted the Big 12 Chief Business Officers meeting. The board will begin a national search for a successor.