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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Andrew Joseph

College football fans had so many jokes about the Big 12 potentially selling the conference’s naming rights

the Big 12 Big 12 Football AllState Brett McMurphy SEC the Big Ten

College sports has long been a multi-billion-dollar, money-making industry even before NIL changed the landscape of the NCAA. But just in case you thought we already reached the peak in college sports commercialization, the Big 12 may be reminding us all that it can always get worse.

While it’s the norm for bowl games and stadiums to have their names connected to a corporate sponsor, we have yet to see an actual conference go as far as to put its own brand on the sponsorship market. That will likely change with the Big 12.

According to a report from Brett McMurphy, the Big 12 — having just lost its two flagship football programs to the SEC — is in discussions with insurance giant Allstate to come to a naming rights agreement on the actual conference name.

The deal, which could be worth upwards of $50 million per year, would have Allstate’s brand essentially taking over the conference’s name. Think something like the “Big Allstate 12.” And, of course, there’s something hilarious about the Big 12 wanting to include the numeric “12” in the name of a 16-school conference all while being totally fine with slapping a corporate sponsor onto the name.

But let’s be honest: The potential deal won’t really impact what fans call the conference. When Barclays briefly took over Premier League naming rights, fans still called it the Premier League,  EPL or PL. Nobody in Los Angeles is referring to the former Staples Center as “Crypto.com Arena.” I imagine that fans will continue to call the conference the Big 12 regardless of what Allstate pays for it to be named.

Also, what happens when Allstate’s contract expires? We’re just going to rename a conference every few years. That’s not exactly great for a brand identity that has to compete with legacy conferences like the Big Ten and SEC.

Still, the report inspired plenty of jokes from fans because it’s such a silly idea just to make money.

This was how Twitter/X reacted

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