The Big 12 is stepping into the spotlight this week in Frisco, and there’s no shortage of pressure points waiting for answers.
League commissioner Brett Yormark, coaches, players and school officials from all 16 member schools will spend Tuesday and Wednesday at the Ford Center at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility, as the conference opens one of the final offseason checkpoints before fall camp takes over. And while media days always bring the usual round of polished talking points, this one has a little more edge to it.
The College Football Playoff debate is back on the front burner, and the latest idea making the rounds is a 24-team field. That proposal has support in a lot of places outside the SEC, and the Big 12 already went on record in favor of it during spring meetings, when coaches from all 16 schools voted yes, according to the Associated Press. Yormark has also backed expansion, as long as the economics work.
There’s a reason the conference likes the idea. In the first two seasons of the 12-team playoff, the Big 12 has had just one team in each year, and it’s gone 0-2 in CFP games over that span. Scott Draper, the league’s chief competition officer, said at May’s spring meetings, “If the 24-team playoff started last year, we would have had five teams in,”
“We were the second-ranked conference, strength of conference, in their metrics last year, so I’m confident that we’ll be well-represented in a 24-team playoff.”
There’s also a deadline looming. The format for the 2027 CFP has to be finalized by Dec. 1, so the conversation isn’t just theoretical anymore. For 2026, though, the bracket stays at 12.
Another issue likely to surface is the Brendan Sorsby situation and what it says about gambling in college sports. The former Cincinnati quarterback was expected to be Texas Tech’s starter this fall, but that changed after the NCAA ruled him ineligible and he will sit out the 2026 season before preparing for the 2027 NFL Draft. His admitted gambling issues turned the story into a major national flashpoint, complete with questions about sports integrity and threats of litigation.
Texas Tech still enters the season as the heavy favorite to repeat as Big 12 champion, but the fallout from the Sorsby saga - and gambling more broadly - figures to follow the Red Raiders into media days. Yormark and Texas Tech’s representatives will have to handle those questions, and the school’s response during the ordeal, including billionaire booster Cody Campbell’s comments, is likely to draw attention again.
The money conversation is just as unavoidable. The gap between the SEC and Big Ten and everyone else keeps widening, and the Big 12 is trying to keep pace in its own way. USA Today reported the league brought in $610.9 million in gross revenue in fiscal year 2025 and projects $710 million in fiscal year 2026, but that still leaves it behind the SEC, Big Ten and ACC.
That has pushed schools toward outside capital. Utah finalized a partnership with Otro Capital in June in a private equity deal that is reported to bring $500 million into its athletic department.
The Big 12 also struck a deal in late April with RedBird Capital Partners and Weatherford Capital that is reported to provide a $12.5 capital infusion to the league, while giving all 16 schools access to a line of credit of up to $30 million, according to ESPN. The Deseret News reported in mid-May that schools had one year to decide whether to take the line of credit, and at that point no school had confirmed it would.
How the Big 12 keeps trying to close that gap should be part of the discussion this week, even if the answers stay broad.
Then there’s the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, a bipartisan federal bill introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell. The measure cleared the U.S.
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in mid-June and now goes to the full Senate. Yormark backed it in a May 31 statement, calling it “the bipartisan effort to establish a more consistent national framework for college athletics.
“This legislation reflects an important commitment to and a good foundation for greater stability, clearer standards, and meaningful protections for student-athletes.”
The bill has already evolved. The original version barred only the SEC and Big Ten from expanding, but an updated version would stop any conference that generates at least $700 million in revenue from expanding. That would include the Big 12 if its projected numbers hold.
Finally, there’s the question of who in the league is best positioned to take advantage if Texas Tech slips. BYU and Utah both finished in the top 15 at the end of the 2025 season, and both enter the year with plenty of attention. The Cougars kept Kalani Sitake after Penn State tried to lure him away, while Utah is moving forward under Morgan Scalley, who has taken over the program.
Both schools come to Frisco with some change and some uncertainty, but they also look like the most obvious challengers if the Red Raiders lose their grip. How the rest of the Big 12 views BYU and Utah should be one of the more revealing parts of the week.
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