Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark reacts to court criticism: ‘That court isn’t about me, it’s about the student-athletes’

There have been many unusual court designs in basketball over the years, but it’s most common to see them from teams rather than conferences. That wasn’t the case for the remarkable court at the Big 12 men’s basketball conference tournament in Kansas City. The court which featured the conference logo’s “XII” in a repeated pattern, has been drawing quite the reaction from many viewers over the past few days. Here’s some of that:

The grey uniforms on a grey tinted court with black paint all around is horrible color contrast. If someone played around in Paint for 15 minutes, they could have nailed it.

— Michael Springer (@SpringerProject) March 10, 2025

Some of that criticism has been directed at Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who has made plenty of splashy moves since taking that role in 2022. The former CEO of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation has done a lot in his time at the conference helm, from signing new media deals with Fox and ESPN to adding Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah (and dooming the Pac-12 in the process, even if he was “not happy” about that outcome) to attention-grabbing international announcements and partnerships with everyone from WWE to Ne-Yo. But, in a press conference Tuesday, Yormark tried to say the court wasn’t about him:

“Let me just start off by saying that that court isn’t about me, it’s about our student-athletes. When I first got here, it was all about modernizing and contemporizing our brand, connecting to culture, and getting on the consciousness of current and future student-athletes. And that’s what we’re doing.”

Yormark continued by saying he’s received praise for this from athletes.

“Every student-athlete that walked on that court last week came up to me and said ‘Brett, it’s fantastic.’ They took selfies, they loved it. Today, I got here very early, Iowa State practiced, and the entire team said ‘Love it, love being on there.’ I think it’s aspirational. That’s our stage. And we wanted to make a profound statement, and I think we did, and I love it.”

He then illustrated that he’s heard some of the criticism elsewhere, but said he isn’t bothered by it.

“Listen, in life, you never get it perfectly correct. But I think the people that matter most that are weighing in really love it, and that’s what matters to me.”

Well, many of those people seem to be weighing in privately to Yormark (and even there, it’s questionable whether “every student-athlete that walked on that court last week” told him “Brett, it’s fantastic,” as that seems a little over-the-top for such unanimity). There are many others weighing in with other feedback, but apparently they don’t matter quite as much. But it is interesting to hear Yormark explaining his goals for this publicly, and saying “It’s about our student-athletes.”