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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If the Big 12 offered any intent of further westward expansion with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah in the summer, commissioner Brett Yormark reeled the league back to its midwestern roots Tuesday night.
Yormark formally announced an extension to keep the Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments at the T-Mobile Center in downtown Kansas City through 2031, and followed it up by revealing a two-year deal to host the conference's women's soccer championships at CPKC Stadium — home of the NWSL's Kansas City Current — in 2024 and 2025.
The conference's soccer championships have been held in Round Rock, Texas, for the past three seasons, following a seven-year run at Swipe Soccer Village in Kansas City. Only San Antonio hosted the final for longer, while St. Louis was the tournament host one year back in 1996.
The 2024 tournament will be held Oct. 30-Nov. 9 at CPKC Stadium, while the 2025 edition will run Nov. 1-8.
With his heart and mind on the tragic shooting following the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl victory celebration a few weeks ago, Yormark waxed poetic about the region while announcing a lengthy presence for the league on the banks of the Missouri River alongside Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas and other sports officials to formally welcome the Big 12 as a fixture in the 18,000-seat anchor to downtown Kansas City's Power and Light district.
Yormark called Kansas City "our home away from home" in most sports, but especially in men's and women's basketball and women's soccer.
"It was a really easy decision that we needed to double down on this community, for all the right reasons," Yormark told reporters during a 30-minute question-and-answer session prior to the Big 12 women's championship Tuesday night. "You guys have embraced us, it feels like a Super Bowl each time we're here, the fan support has been tremendous, the community support has been tremendous, and we truly look forward to doubling down on Kansas City and calling this our home for our basketball championships for the near future."
The Big 12 commissioner admitted that his league became a "national conference" with the additions of eight teams in four time zones over the past three years. But Tuesday's declaration comes as several fans, coaches and administrators of the new schools — to say nothing of followers of conference realignment — began voicing their concerns over move west for the league formed in 1994 by a semi-merger of the Big 8 and Southwest conferences.
Further speculation continued when the league moved its football media days to Las Vegas this summer, with a scheduling conflict the reported reason for shifting the annual summer kickoff from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, to the Raiders' home at Allegiant Stadium.
Geographically, the move certainly fits with a five-member western front just past the Rocky Mountains, and the conference also extends east to Cincinnati, Ohio, Morgantown, West Virginia and Orlando, Florida.
But the shadow of the Big 12 is still nestled squared in the central time zone, where a projected $32 million in economic impact is slated to stay with the Kansas City region for seven more years, Nelson said.
"We are a national conference now. We're in 10 states, four time zones," Yormark said. "When it comes to men's and women's basketball, and women's soccer, this needed to be our home. We're going to football media day in Vegas, which we are excited about, and there will be other opportunities to move closer to that footprint, but we needed to be in Kansas City."
All 16 teams will compete in next year's men's and women's basketball tournament, Yormark said of the post-SEC departure in the future, with further details to come later. ESPN will be the primary television broadcaster, not only for the remaining two years of the league's current contract but also the future deal that extends through 2031 with the Worldwide Leader and FOX.
But how big would be "too big" for the Big 12 in its newest iteration? Yormark didn't give a number — nor should he, with potential fracas swirling around college athletics from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Northwest.
Instead, he answered the question of "how many" with a question of his own: Who knows?
"Right now, I love the makeup and composition of this conference," Yormark added. "The 'four corner' schools was the best-case scenario, and they'll be joining us next summer. We've got a lot of work to integrate those four the right way. Who knows what the future will hold, but I really love the makeup right now."
