ARLINGTON - - Like the famous scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Big 12 wants you to know that it isn’t dead yet.

The first hour of the Big 12 Media Days, which started early Wednesday morning at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, was a State of the Union-type address featuring Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Baylor president Linda Livingstone, and incoming Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who technically doesn’t start until Aug. 1. 

Few questions were asked about the 2022 season or the individual football teams. Instead, the address featured conference realignment talk, future intentions, and vague looks into the future.

The Big 12 is alive and well, according to the dais, and the conference is ready to position itself as the third-best conference in college football when the dust settles on conference realignment. Yormark, who arrived to the Big 12 from Roc Nation, knows that the security of the Big 12 rests on television deals. 

“I’m bullish on the conference,” Yormark said. “What we look like today, and what we look like then might be different. At the right time, I look forward to engaging with them. Everything we do from this point forward will lead to that negotiation.” 

Three years separate the Big 12 from renegotiating its television contract. Yormark pointed to experience working with FOX and ESPN. He also spoke extensively about branding. He wants to make the Big 12 “younger, hipper, and cooler” by engaging a younger audience on different platforms. The new college football landscape is national. Yormark knows the Big 12 must catch up with brands such as the Big 10 and the SEC to stay relevant on a national stage. Adding teams from the PAC-12 is one option and Yormark didn’t rule anything out. 

“We are exploring all options and we are open for business,” he said. “I think it is fair to say I’ve received a lot of phone calls, a lot of interest. Nothing is imminent.” 

Some assume the Big 12 is on its last breath. That college football is moving past regional rivalries and conferences without established national powers in national markets. No so, according to Yormark. He sees a future for the Big 12, even if it is impossible to predict what that future looks like. 

“I think there’s incredible upside with the Big 12,” Yormark said. “It’s one of the reasons I’m here today. We have a chance to build our brand and business, and to nationalize our conference in a way that hasn’t been done before.” 

One way to do that is to add more teams. Reports suggest the Big 12 is interested in programs such as Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado. The new four teams – Houston, Cincinnati, UCF, and BYU – are set to join in 2023. And there’s still that little issue of when Texas and Oklahoma depart for the SEC. Yormark didn’t rule out the exodus of those schools earlier than the 2025 date, if it benefits the Big 12. Both of those schools would need to pay the conference millions of dollars to leave early. 

“I’m sure there’s going to be a moment in time where we sit down and discuss the future,” Yormark said of Texas and Oklahoma. “That’s really all I can say at this point in time.”