Almost a year ago to the day, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said he was no longer in talks with UConn or Gonzaga about conference expansion.
And today, in the present, Yormark plans to present the league presidents with a plan to include the Huskies in the conference in all sports except football starting in 2026.
According to a report from Yahoo Sports, the Big 12 and UConn “remain in serious negotiations” and school officials met with the league’s athletic administrators in Dallas last week. While no movement is expected in the near future, according to the report, the in-person meeting was a sign of the “serious nature” of the talks.
From a basketball perspective, the move makes sense. Yormark wants to make the Big 12 the best basketball conference in the country and the Huskies are at the top of the sport as two-time national champions in a row.
Huskies football, however, will have to wait. Yormark’s plan would require UConn to invest more money in its football program before it can join the league, at the earliest in 2031, when the league’s new television contract takes effect. As the last remaining independent football team outside of Notre Dame, UConn receives the smallest share of College Football Playoff revenue. A move to a power conference would be very beneficial for football from a financial perspective, especially now that college sports are preparing for a world where there are revenue-sharing opportunities for student-athletes.
Yormark’s desire to expand the league, negotiate its naming rights with sponsors and explore private equity investments all served to ensure the league’s financial stability for the future as the NCAA prepares to pay out billions of dollars to thousands of current and former student-athletes over the next 10 years. Small schools and leagues, especially those without a revenue-generating football program, will likely feel a greater financial burden over that time period than schools in major conferences. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see more movement in the near future.
Gonzaga and the Big 12 have been in talks on and off for the past few years, but it’s been nearly 10 months since Brett Yormark visited Spokane and there’s been little action from either side. It was reported that some league members weren’t comfortable with the idea of sharing revenue with a non-football school. To counteract this, Yormark attempted to sign two separate TV deals for football and men’s basketball once the league’s current contract expires in 2031.
However, without football, UConn will not receive its full share of the Big 12’s distribution. Gonzaga would be in the same position from a revenue perspective, although the school’s lack of football facilities puts it in a difficult position.
