ESPN refutes statement from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark

The Big 12 announced that the conference was going to be opening up negotiations early for its next media rights deal. Its primary partners now, and for those negotiations, would be ESPN and Fox. However, ESPN has now put out a statement refuting what Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said.

“We regularly engage in conversation around the future with all of our partners, but to be clear, we have not opened the contractual negotiation window with the Big 12 at this time,” ESPN said to hotline.

In his statement, Brett Yormark said, “We welcome the opportunity to engage with our partners to determine if an early extension is in the best interest of all parties,” and said the Big 12 had a fantastic relationship with its partners.

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Previously, the move had seemed like one for the Big 12 to attack the PAC-12 with. Now, it would appear that there was an information breakdown along the way.

However, if someone wanted to play semantics, the Big 12 said they “will be” and ESPN used the phrase “not at this time,” to describe entering negotiations. According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, that distinction is important because negotiations will actually start next week. They just haven’t “at this time.”

“At this time” is technically correct because ESPN isn’t talking to Big 12 until next week https://t.co/jQTdheKH0R https://t.co/0C5BZdTSVz

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) August 31, 2022

Furthermore, as a result of the Big 12 announcing that they were going to negotiate a new media deal, there are reports that this could open the door for Texas and Oklahoma to leave the conference early. According to Dennis Dobbs of CBS Sports, this negotiation will result in “active discussions,” regarding their departure.

ESPN reporter Pete Thamel was the first to report that the Big 12 and its media partners would begin negotiating a new television rights deal.