Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Idk what they got cookin over there, but it needs to stop.
Is the Big 12 in the middle of an identity crisis?
As former powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas leave to go towards the SEC, the conference is left reeling and trying to figure out how to regrow their brand outside of having Texas and Oklahoma. When new commissioner Brett Yormark stepped in, he began to try and make the conference a bit cooler, giving conference champions WWE title belts and having Nelly perform at halftime of the Big 12 conference championship football game.
However, the latest news to come out of the Big 12 is so hilariously stupid it’s almost hard to believe.
According to multiple reports by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, the Big 12 is exploring the possibility of…selling the conference’s naming rights. According to Dellenger, the deal would be the most lucrative one in college sports’ history, with the payout coming in at over hundreds of millions of dollars. However, the trade off would be…removing the Big part of the Big 12 and only keeping the 12.
Right.
The 12 conference.
With 16 teams.
The 12 conference.
The latest conversations within the conference have centered on retaining “12” in the “Big 12” name and removing “Big.”
The corporate sponsor name would replace “Big” – a significant change but one expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollarshttps://t.co/OnTFWFFzDI
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) June 13, 2024
According to Action Sports Network’s Brett McMurphy, the sponsor that they’ll be giving the naming rights to is Allstate, which would make the conference…the Big Allstate Conference.
Big 12 in discussions w/Allstate on a naming rights deal to change league’s name, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. Deal could be worth b/w $30-$50 million annually & name possibilities include Big Allstate Conference or Allstate 12 Conference, sources said https://t.co/Cv22vjhBSx
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) June 13, 2024
This is embarrassing, yet also incredibly funny. Putting anything in front of the number 12 makes it sound like these teams were in a landmark court case, but no they just play football. The Whataburger 12 would be a dope name, though. Or even the PlayStation 12, just spitballing here.
Just how down bad for money is the Big 12 (12? Allstate 12? Idk yet) that they have to sell the naming rights to their own conference just to make some money? I know it can’t be so ba—
Oh.
Here we go again.
Private equity in businesses has always gone well and never ever backfired, so this is a perfect idea for the Big 12—I mean Allstate 12. I mean, nevermind that according to a Reuters report that 2⁄3 of all US retailers that failed in 2019 were private-equity owned. Don’t worry about the fact that in 2023 more than 16% of all US bankruptcy filings were portfolio companies of private equity, per the S&P. It didn’t work for those guys, but it will for us, right?
Just when you think the dorks that run college sports can’t get worse, they turn around and do this.
THERE AREN’T EVEN 12 TEAMS IN THE CONFERENCE ANY MORE WHY IS THAT THE ONE THING YOU WOULD KEEP?
The people in power over college athletics confuse me.
