The Big 12 is about to sound a lot different. Starting this year, regular-season football and basketball games won’t just be Big 12 games. They’ll be Monster Energy Big 12 Football and Monster Energy Big 12 Basketball. That’s not a typo. The league has finalized a multiyear deal with Monster Energy worth around $20 million annually, according to Ben Portnoy of Sports Business Journal. It’s the first time a major conference has sold naming rights for its regular seasons in this way.
The agreement goes deeper than just a name change. Every team in the conference will wear a co-branded Big 12 and Monster Energy jersey patch in football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball. Co-branded logos will also appear on fields and courts. That means when you watch a Texas Tech versus Baylor game this fall, you’ll see the Monster logo painted on the turf alongside the Big 12 logo.
Commissioner Brett Yormark is expected to officially announce the deal Tuesday during football media days. The money breaks down to roughly $1 million per year for each of the Big 12’s member schools. That’s not life-changing for a power conference program, but it’s real cash that doesn’t come from TV contracts or ticket sales.
Yormark and Monster’s chief partnerships officer, Mitch Covington, have worked together before. Monster was already the conference’s official energy drink starting in 2025. “We’ve already got a built-in trust because we’ve done business in the past and pretty much throughout Brett’s career,” Covington told SBJ. “That really makes it an easier decision for us.”
The Pepsi Problem Nobody’s Solved Yet
There’s a complication here that could slow down full implementation. Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, and TCU all have existing deals with Pepsi. Monster Energy is partially owned by Coca-Cola, Pepsi’s direct rival. So you’ve got a situation where the conference sells a sponsorship that conflicts with individual school pouring rights contracts. Nobody’s said how that gets sorted out yet.
Yormark has been aggressive about pushing the Big 12’s brand since taking over. The conference lost Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC, added new members, and now it’s chasing corporate partnerships that feel more like pro sports. “We want to partner with big brands that not only come with the appropriate financial resources, but can activate us and help grow the Big 12 profile and narrative,” Yormark said. “It’s critically important that we do both.”
This is the same league that approved jersey patch ads in the first place. The NCAA gave the green light for sponsorship patches back in January, opening the door for commercial logos on uniforms and gear. The Big 12 just kicked that door wide open.
College sports advertising has been creeping up for years. Stadium names, bowl game titles, shoe contracts. But selling the name of the actual regular season? That’s new territory. And it probably won’t be the last conference to try it.
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