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The Big 12 is adding a new audio partner -- and another avenue for content.
The league is set to launch a 24/7 audio station via a partnership with TuneIn, which will become the new audio home of the Big 12. Terms of the deal were not immediately available, but an official announcement is expected today.
The Big 12 was up for renewal with SiriusXM, but tabbed TuneIn instead. A source with knowledge of the discussions told SBJ that country music icon
Garth Brooks helped facilitate the partnership in part through his involvement with TuneIn and his work as a member of the Big 12 Business Advisory Board.
Sponsorships for programming will be sold in a joint effort between the Big 12 and TuneIn. The 24/7 audio network will also be free to listen to, while TuneIn Premium will house live game commentary for football and men’s and women’s basketball from all Big 12 schools.
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“We see tremendous growth over the next three-to-five years for college sports,” TuneIn CEO
Rich Stern said. “Part of that is about how the economics of college sports are changing, but also we see it in the fandom today and we see it in the interest of our partners.”
Big 12 Commissioner
Brett Yormark has spent the better part of the last year working varying avenues to better improve the league’s marketability, along with finding creative ways to increase revenues. Yormark was instrumental in helping the league jump the line on the Pac-12 in netting a new media deal with ESPN and Fox Sports worth $2.28B and an annual average of $380M -- a 72.7% increase in the average annual value of its current deal, which started in 2012.
More recently, Yormark spearheaded a PSL program for the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament earlier this year that’s expected to bring the league an added $30M in revenue over the next seven years. The thought internally is if all goes well with the program, a similar offering could be made available for the Big 12 football championship.
The Big 12 has also explored expanded revenue generation ideas with a private equity group and discussed a separate deal involving the conference’s naming rights.
“It's very easy to kind of keep doing what everyone else has been doing year-over-year and say ‘Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it,’” Stern said. “But I think [Yormark] has the benefit of coming in, not only with a fresh set of eyes, but with a new set of rules that are very new and that everyone's still rationalizing.
“While I think all the other conferences are still trying to figure out what [these changes] mean for them, he’s taken the initiative. He’s grown the team tremendously on the conference side and he’s willing to, I think, try things, experiment and lean into the opportunity here in ways that others I’m sure will follow.”
