Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark this week snapped back at Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell, saying Campbell “does not run the Big 12” after he “complained publicly about the conference and its television partners,” according to Don Williams of the LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL. Campbell posted this week on social media the Big 12 and Fox Sports are “looking to move the Texas Tech home game against Houston from Sept. 19, the Saturday on which it’s currently slotted, to Sept. 18.” He also “took Yormark to task.” Campbell said, “The conference doesn’t want to really acknowledge it, but they do have an ability to influence those decisions. They just chose not to because they were chasing ratings.” Though there has been no announcement from the Big 12, Campbell said that he thinks the game moving to Friday “is a fait accompli.” Yormark in a statement said, “Our Board and our ADs approved playing 12 games a year off of Saturdays in an effort to raise the profile, narrative, and viewership of Big 12 Football. Texas Tech hosting a primetime game on Friday night delivers that.” There were seven FBS regular-season games, including two involving Big 12 teams, played on Friday nights in Texas last season. Texas Tech and Iowa State were the only two Big 12 teams that played all their regular-season games on Saturdays last year (LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 4/2).
HOLD ON: ESPN.com’s Dave Wilson noted Campbell “poured more fuel on the fire” with another social media post early Thursday morning, “pushing back on a hot-button topic for Texas Tech fans” -- the Big 12 banning their tortilla-tossing celebrations at Jones AT&T Stadium, with Texas Tech eventually began asking fans to stop in the face of large fines threatened by the league. Campbell wrote on X, “Apparently Brett didn’t get the memo: EVERYTHING RUNS THROUGH LUBBOCK!! Maybe we should bring the tortillas back??” Campbell also told ESPN, “As commissioner, he needs to remember that he works for the presidents, and the presidents work for the boards. He is not the dictator of the conference. That’s not his role. It is his responsibility to advocate for his members in all cases” (ESPN.com, 4/2).
