1. The naming rights thing is cringeworthy and reeks of a lack of seriousness. I am far from a brand valuation expert but if this is only worth $2-3M per year to each school, is it really worth it? On the other hand, the Premier League used to be sponsored by Barclays (they later ended the partnership to position themselves better vis a vis the NFL and NBA), the NASCAR leagues are sponsored, the G League is sponsored; it's certainly not a novel idea. From a brand identity perspective, I'd much prefer something like "the Big 12 presented by Allstate" with an Allstate logo incorporated with the current Big 12 branding for less money. Calling your conference the Big Allstate Conference or the Allstate 12 is absurd. I definitely got a laugh when it was reported today that the other conference considering this is C-USA. 2. Private equity getting a stake in college athletic conferences was a horrible idea when the Pac-12 considered it a few years ago, it was a horrible idea when FSU floated it a few months ago and it's a horrible idea today. People say the ACC signing a 20-year media rights deal was bad; that pales in comparison to selling a 20% equity stake in your conference. The ironic thing is, Yormark won't be the Big 12 commissioner forever and the Big 12 presidents and ADs advising them won't be in their roles forever; they can sell out now, reap the windfall, and leave their successors holding the bag. If I were a trustee of a Big 12 college I'd be burning the house down to stop this. Imagine, for example, a PE shop dictating that the Big 12 fire all of its officials and hire Texas HS referees instead to cut costs. When PE gets involved in businesses, it's to make them money at the expense of everything and everyone else. 3. I laughed when it was speculated in one of the articles today that the Big 12 thinks it can double its media rights value when its next deal comes up. Considering the first one hasn't even started yet and it's only a 6-year deal, that would suggest that Yormark got absolutely fleeced by ESPN and Fox. Now it's true he rushed to jump the line to beat the Pac-12 to the punch, and if I'm Iowa State or BYU I'm thrilled that he did; but many of the Big 12 schools could have found a home in the ACC or Pac-12 if the Big 12 had been the conference that collapsed...and they likely could have made more money in either. 4. If the Big 12 schools are seriously considering a cash infusion from PE, they better hope the ACC GOR holds. Because whatever CVC would make them sign would make the ACC GOR look like child's play. They're not stroking a billion dollar check and letting anyone leave, and if the ACC GOR doesn't hold, that's a bad, bad precedent. 5. Surely all of this "news" today has to be Yormark doing his carnival barker routine again, right? With the NBA and NHL finals coming to a close we're about to enter the dead period for sports for a few weeks. What better time to float some crazy news and get people talking about you? Any publicity is good publicity.