The Big 12 is in talks with UConn to join the league across all sports, sources confirmed to ESPN.
No vote has been held for possible Huskies membership, nor is it close to being held, as sources cautioned there has been resistance among several members that would need to be overcome.
Talks have advanced to the point where UConn athletic director David Benedict and board chairman Daniel Toscano met with Big 12 athletic directors in person in Dallas last week to make their case, sources told ESPN. The talks centered on football funding and how UConn could be competitive by joining the league in 2031, sources said.
According to sources, a Big 12 board meeting is being planned for next week with league presidents that would lay out the specifics of the deal.
“I think the word is 'premature,'” said one senior Big 12 official. “There's a huge gap between the talks and anything that might happen. The presidents haven't seen the case yet.”
The addition would apply to all sports, and in theory, the delay until 2031 in football would give UConn a chance to catch up to be more prepared to join the league at that time in terms of funding and an upgrade in talent through NIL. The Athletic was first to report on that potential board call and the talks.
The other sports, including UConn's dominant basketball programs, would be added when UConn could negotiate or wait out the 27-month waiting period to exit the league.
Sources cautioned that there is much more to discuss for future talks, as votes to add UConn have not yet been finalized. While some schools are in favor of adding the Huskies, several athletic directors within the league have been vocally against it, sources told ESPN. Several others are undecided. The final vote would come down to 12 of the league's 16 presidents.
Part of the pushback stems from the timing of the discussions, as league officials are preoccupied with the House-NCAA deal. There are also questions about how much the move would benefit the football conference.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has been optimistic that basketball will be a bigger factor for the league’s television contracts in the coming years. UConn is the sport’s dominant program and plays in the nation’s top market, with a strong presence in the New York area. UConn is coming off back-to-back national titles in men’s basketball and has held the nation’s best record in women’s basketball for the past generation. UConn’s resurgence in men’s basketball came under coach Dan Hurley and coincided with the school’s rejoining the Big East for the 2020-21 season after playing in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-14 through 2019-20.
The Big 12 has consistently been one of the best basketball leagues in the country, and adding UConn would potentially bolster that reputation.
The 16-team Big 12 added four new members (Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Arizona) last year and will welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State this year.
Yormark has been bullish on expansion. He outmaneuvered Pac-12 officials to renew the league’s television deal and secure the Big 12’s future shortly after taking over as commissioner in 2022. He also parlayed that secure future into eventually adding the four former Pac-12 programs.
Yormark also pushed hard early in his tenure to add Gonzaga basketball, though that ultimately fell through.
