Joel Klatt: Adding Colorado was a show of strength for Brett Yormark, the Big 12

The Big 12’s stealthy and sudden acquisition of Colorado from the Pac-12 might have started the next wave of conference realignment, but at a minimum it established one thing: The Big 12’s place in the pecking order. Adding Colorado was a big deal.

It was a power move to steal another Power 5 program, one that FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt says Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark should be lauded for.

“Well, the Big 12 beats them to market, they get the deal and then now what do they offer?” Klatt said. “Stability. And what did today do for the Big 12 even further? Offer even more stability. You heard Rick George, the athletic director at Colorado talk about it. How many times did he say the word stability? It was over and over.

“And this further stabilizes this conference and then today it took it a step further.”

The Pac-12 must now scramble to try to keep its remaining membership intact while also potentially looking for replacements. Oh, and it must find some way to come to an agreement on a new TV rights deal, one of the major factors, undoubtedly, adding Colorado even became doable for the Big 12.

That last point has proven rather sticky for the Pac-12. It was arguably the biggest factor in favor of the Big 12 when it came to adding Colorado.

That the Big 12 already has a TV deal in place — one with existing stipulations for new members added — is massive.

“Now all the sudden you not only get a new deal, but this new commissioner is out there and seems to be making things happen, and now there’s a bit of a show of strength that they can go and command and draw the University of Colorado to the Big 12,” Klatt said. “Because make no mistake about it, Colorado was attracted to the Big 12 and it wasn’t just for the television deal. It was also for the leadership and the plan. That stability and show of strength I think is important moving forward.”

It remains to be seen exactly where the Big 12 will fall out at the end of this round of conference alignment, in part because future additions are still possible.

It seems unlikely the league catches the Big Ten or SEC, certainly not just by adding Colorado, but it may well have positioned itself third among the Power 5 leagues.

“The next thing that this does is I think it puts their commissioner Brett Yormark in a real position, maybe not of ultimate strength, because I think we all know, and I think even he would admit to this as well, we all know that Tony Petitti, the new commissioner of the Big Ten, and Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, and probably even Greg because of his tenure with Tony being so new, like those are the guys that are going to command the strongest positions when we start talking about things that affect the sport globally,” Klatt said. “Namely the College Football Playoff expansion and how that’s going to look and what that’s going to look like in 2026 and beyond.”

In other words, Yormark is proving his skills as a quality negotiator and administrator. That matters in the big picture.

“What this does today, with Colorado moving in there, it further stabilizes and it further strengthens Brett Yormark’s position within those conversations,” Klatt said. “I don’t think that that should be overstated, because that’s an important piece of what’s going to be happening moving forward.

“So Colorado helps themselves a little bit because they get into a position where they’re hitching their wagon to a leader that’s increasing his strength in terms of the position that he holds within the sport globally.”