Big 12 becoming first Power Four conference to have all members agree to CSC participation

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Big 12 is becoming the first Power Four conference to have each of its members sign participation agreements with the College Sports Commission, the agency formed last year to police name, image and likeness payments.

“The Big 12 wants rules and enforcements, and we want to be a leader in that area,” commissioner Brett Yormark said Friday after the league wrapped up four days of annual meetings. “I think signing the participation agreement certainly is indicative of that."

The agreement requires schools to waive their right to file lawsuits against the enforcement agency and gives it wide latitude to sanction programs for violating rules that outline how players can be paid after the House settlement last year.

But all 68 Power Four schools must sign the 11-page document for it to become valid. All schools had initially been asked to review and sign the document by last December.

“I can’t speak for the other conferences. I mean, obviously they all say they want rules and enforcement, but they haven’t signed the participation agreement,” Yormark said.

Richard Linton, president of Kansas State, said the Big 12 board of directors — composed of the presidents and chancellors from the league's 16 schools — unanimously agreed to sign the document.

Yormark said the league expected to have all the signatures by early next week.

The document outlines rules that have been established since the House settlement was approved last summer — for instance, about the salary cap and the CSC’s role in analyzing third-party name, image, likeness deals through its NIL Go platform.

Bryan Seeley, the CEO of the CSC, addressed Big 12 members and league officials this week during their meetings in North Texas.

The CSC says it has cleared more than 26,000 NIL deals worth some $242.3 million through May 1 since its launch.

Yormark said he was on a call earlier Friday with the CSC and other conference commissioners.

“Like any startup, and the CSC is a startup, not even 12 months old, you have to think about what’s working and what’s not and what are the necessary adjustments both short-term and long-term that we should be considering,” Yormark said. “And we’re going to dive into that a little bit more in the coming weeks to determine what that might look like. ... But I’m bullish on the direction of the CSC.”

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