why are they booing the big 12 commissioner
They’re booing the Big 12 commissioner, Brett Yormark, mostly because a lot of fans – especially Texas fans – feel he’s been openly biased and antagonistic toward schools that are leaving the conference, like Texas and Oklahoma, and because he’s become the public face of realignment drama and unpopular decisions in the league.
Quick Scoop
What actually happened with the booing?
- The loudest, most viral booing came when Texas won the Big 12 Championship Game in December 2023 and Yormark tried to present the trophy on the podium.
- Longhorn fans rained down boos and started chanting “S‑E‑C” at him as a sort of “we’re out of here” message while he spoke.
- He tried to continue his speech, repeating “It’s all good” while Texas coach Steve Sarkisian motioned to the crowd to calm them down, but every time he spoke the boos came back louder.
Why are Texas (and other) fans mad at him?
- Over the summer before that season, Yormark told Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire at a Tech event that he wanted them to “take care of business” against Texas in their regular‑season finale, which Longhorn fans took as the commissioner openly rooting against them.
- Texas then blew out Texas Tech and played that clip of his “take care of business” comments on the video board, leaning into the pettiness and reinforcing the idea that the relationship between Texas and the league office was hostile and personal.
- Many fans and posters on college football forums called that level of visible bias “unprofessional” for a commissioner, arguing that the conference’s top executive shouldn’t publicly pick sides against one of his own members, even if that school is leaving.
Bigger picture: why commissioners get booed in general
- Sports commissioners (NFL, NBA, college commissioners, etc.) often become the lightning rod for every unpopular decision: realignment, TV deals, kickoff times, officiating controversies, and discipline, even when they’re not personally responsible for each call.
- In the Big 12’s case, Yormark is also the guy most associated with the messy realignment era, Texas and Oklahoma bolting to the SEC, and the aggressive moves that impacted other leagues, so fans project a lot of that frustration onto him.
So, if you see clips now…
- When you see a crowd booing the Big 12 commissioner in highlight clips or on social media, it’s usually Texas fans (or fans of departing schools) expressing payback for what they see as his earlier digs and bias.
- It’s also partly “tradition”: booing the commissioner has become a kind of fan ritual at big trophy or draft‑style events in modern sports.
Bottom line: he’s being booed not just for one moment, but for a build‑up of comments, realignment politics, and the role of “villain commissioner” that fans love to push onto whoever runs the league.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.