Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has renewed his commitment to expansion target UConn, and league officials will meet next week to revisit the issue, according to several Big 12 administrators and broadcast sources. The athlete.
Yormark, a Northeast native and former Brooklyn Nets executive, has been talking to the school since at least last summer, before the Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to grow to 16 schools. In August 2023, he said those talks were “no longer” over. Talks resumed earlier this year, according to several Big 12 administrators, but Yormark still had no consensus internally to extend an invitation.
It’s unclear whether support among Big 12 presidents has increased in light of this latest round of discussions, according to league sources briefed on the process. Any further expansion would require the support of a two-thirds majority of 12 of the 16 members in a presidential-level vote.
UConn declined to comment and the Big 12 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Yormark has repeatedly expressed his desire to position the Big 12 as the nation’s premier basketball conference, suggesting that college basketball is “undervalued” by television affiliates. UConn, the reigning national champion in men’s basketball and a perennial powerhouse in women’s basketball – located in a coveted Northeast television market where the conference currently has no member – would help achieve that goal.
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Brett Yormark and the Big 12 have only gotten bolder after a year full of big steps
But for UConn, which was readmitted to the Big East in 2020, joining the Big 12 would mostly be a boost to its struggling football program, which has been an independent since leaving the AAC. The Huskies have not won more than three games in seven of their last eight football seasons and reached a bowl game in 2022 before falling to 3-9.
According to the sources, if the Big 12 accepts UConn, UConn’s football program would not join the league until the next television rights deal, or at least several years later. When UMass joins the MAC next year, UConn will be one of two remaining FBS independents, along with Notre Dame.
In order for current members to feel comfortable adding another school, they want to be assured that their share of the league’s revenue will not be diluted by the addition of UConn.
The Big 12 is one year away from finalizing a new six-year deal with ESPN and Fox that will pay its members an average of $31.7 million per school. The deal was agreed to before the former Pac-12 schools joined, but ESPN was obligated to pay the four Power 5 members a prorated amount. UConn, however, would not be guaranteed the same contract.
ESPN has previously considered upping the Big 12’s television contract to lure UConn, according to broadcast sources briefed on the talks. ESPN is based in Bristol, Connecticut, just 40 miles from Storrs.
Current members have been told that UConn’s addition would be “budget neutral” and would not reduce the conference’s revenue distributions to existing members, according to several Big 12 administrators.
— The athleteChris Vannini contributed to this report.
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