![]() ![]() ![]() It was fueled during my time at Barclays Center. Candidly, I thought it might have been an AD, I wasn't sure,'' Yormark said. ''I always had a vision to be in college sports. ![]() He was NASCAR's vice president for corporate sponsorships before that. The 55-year-old was an executive on the commercial side of Jay-Z's Roc Nation after previously working with the Nets and running Barclay Center, their home arena, for more than a decade. This is will be Yormark's first job in college athletics, though he said it is a career path he often thought about taking. ''We could tell that with his experience in professional sports and sponsorships, and in media, in entertainment, given where college athletics is going, and all the changes taking place, with our media rights negotiation coming up, that Brett, in combination with the really strong athletic directors we have across the conference, would be a great combination to position us really well for the future,'' she said. Livingstone said Yormark rose to the top of a strong pool of candidates during the search process. Yormark plans in August and September to visit the current Big 12 schools and the four coming on board next summer. That being said, it's important that whatever happens is in the best interest of this conference.'' ''But any situation like this, I always look for a win-win scenario. ''I'm sure there's going to be a moment in time where we're going to sit down, discuss the future,'' Yormark said about Texas and Oklahoma. Yormark said the possible addition of more teams to the Big 12 wouldn't necessarily have an impact on any decision involving the Longhorns or Sooners leaving before the expiration of the league's media rights deal that has three more football seasons. The pending departures of two of the Pac-12's biggest brands came as a huge surprise, just like a year ago with the Big 12's only national champions in football deciding to bail on the conference. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF all join next summer after being approved for membership last September. The Big 12 is going into its 12th and final season as a 10-school league. Yormark described himself as actively engaged in realignment, with input from throughout the conference. ''Well, welcome to college athletics, and you thought working for Jay-Z was really exciting,'' she told him. ![]() Livingstone spoke to Yormark by phone a couple of days after he was named, which was after the news about UCLA and USC. ''I'm certain that Brett is just deeply appreciative of the way he was welcomed into the Big 12 Conference with, once again, conference realignment at the top of the list of things to deal with,'' said Baylor president Linda Livingstone, part of the Big 12 board's three-person executive committee that headed the search. The Big Ten's move West was another seismic shift in conference realignment, much like when it was revealed a week after Big 12 media days last summer that Texas and Oklahoma were moving to the Southeastern Conference no later than the 2025 season. He also mentioned ''seeing the true professionalization of college sports'' at a time when name, image and likeness compensation for athletes is going into its second year. ![]()
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