Big 12 naming rights are being explored, allowing a company to name the University of Houston conference

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Some monumental news in college athletics could pay off in a big way.

According to ESPN, ABC13’s sister network, the Big 12 Conference, is considering selling the league’s naming rights to a title sponsor. The branding strategy, expected to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, could potentially remove the “Big” name from the Big 12 and replace it with the sponsor’s name.

So the University of Houston, Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU could potentially star in “The Disney 12” after the deal is signed.

Houston Cougars men’s basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson salutes Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark for thinking outside the box when it comes to revenue.

“Just as schools will be held responsible for finding new dollars, so is Brett Yormark,” Sampson said Thursday via Zoom. “He’s the commissioner of the Big 12, and he’s going to have his plate full. It’s not easy these days. That’s one of the reasons why I feel good about the Big 12. We have a guy in the person of Brett Yormark who thinks outside the box He comes up with new ideas to keep us competitive We can’t let the SEC and the Big 10 get too far away from us.

According to the ESPN report, the Big 12 has been exploring the naming rights option for six months and is expected to make a decision in the coming months.

Additionally, as CBS Sports first reported, the Big 12 is in talks with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for a stake in the league between 15% and 20%, sources confirmed to ESPN . That could give the Big 12 a cash infusion of up to $1 billion and would be the first known large-scale private equity investment in college sports.

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