Big 12 commissioner has eyes on 'going out west' to continue conference expansion

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The Big 12 wants to expand and commissioner Brett Yormark didn’t waste any time Wednesday saying where he wants to do so.

"Obviously, going out west is where I would like to go, entering that fourth time zone," he said via ESPN on Wednesday at the University of Cincinnati, a team joining the Big 12.

Yormark has said the Big 12 is "open for business," but he has criteria that he’s hoping to hit.

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Commissioner Brett Yormark says the Big 12 Conference is "open for business." (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"A program that has national recognition, one that competes at the highest level in basketball and football, stands for the right things, is a good cultural fit," Yormark said.

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Those that check the boxes for Yormark are likely in the Pac-12, to which commissioner George Kliavkoff said, "We haven’t decided if we’re going shopping there yet or not."

Still, Kliavkoff is feeling the pressure from the Big 12.

The OU logo on an equipment bag before a Big 12 football game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Kansas Jayhawks on Oct. 23, 2021. (Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"I’ve been spending four weeks trying to defend against grenades that have been lobbed in from every corner of the Big 12 trying to destabilize our remaining conference," he said.

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In the meantime, both conferences are looking into their media rights as they have "elected to accelerate discussions" with Fox and ESPN. The Big 12 will have their media rights expire in 2025, while the Pac-12 is a year sooner.

Cincinnati is officially leaving the American Athletic Conference to join the Big 12 on July 1, 2023. Fellow AAC conference schools Houston and UCF, as well as BYU, are joining them as well, leaving their respective conferences to enter one of the Power 5’s best. 

Brett Yormark talks with members of the media on June 18, 2019, in New York. (Edward Diller/Getty Images)

USC and UCLA, two of the Pac-12's most recognizable schools, have announced their move to the Big Ten conference, which will go down in 2024.

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Yormark's duties as commissioner began on Aug. 1.