Sources – UConn, in early talks for possible Big 12 membership

The Big 12 is in talks with UConn about joining the league in all sports, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

No vote on a possible Huskies membership has occurred, or could happen, as sources warn there is pushback among several members that must be overcome.

Negotiations have reached the point where UConn athletic director David Benedict and board chair Danielle Toscano met in person with Big 12 athletic directors last week in Dallas to make their case, sources told ESPN. The conversations centered on football funding and how UConn can be competitive after joining the league in 2031, sources said.

Part of UConn’s presentation covered how the Huskies would prepare to spend and make money on football like current Big 12 programs, according to sources. They also built the league on how quickly they became competitive in the Big East Football Conference after joining in 2004.

A Big 12 board call is planned for next week with league presidents that will determine specific contract points, according to sources.

“I think the word is ‘premature,'” said a high-ranking Big 12 official. “There’s a long way between the talks and what happens. The presidents haven’t seen the case yet.”

The additions would be for all sports, and the 2031 delay in football would give UConn a chance to catch up on funding and talent upgrades through the NIL. The Athletic first reported that potential board call and discussion.

Other sports, including UConn’s dominant basketball program, will be added whenever UConn can negotiate or wait out the 27-month waiting period to leave the league.

Sources cautioned that future negotiations will have to dive into more, as votes to add Yukon have not yet been solidified. While some schools are in favor of adding the Huskies, multiple athletic directors within the league have spoken out against it, sources told ESPN. Several others are undecided. The final vote will come down to 12 of the league’s 16.

Some of the pushback has been due to the timing of the negotiations, as league officials are preoccupied with the House v. NCAA settlement. There are also questions about how much the move will benefit the conference in football.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is more interested in the league’s television deal in the coming years as a financial driver of basketball. UConn is the dominant sports program and touches the nation’s top markets with a strong presence in the New York area. UConn is coming off back-to-back national titles in men’s basketball and has boasted the nation’s best brand in women’s basketball for generations. UConn’s resurgence in men’s basketball comes under coach Dan Hurley and coincides with the school’s rejoining the Big East for the 2020-21 season after playing in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-14 to 2019-20.

The Big 12 is consistently one of the top basketball leagues in the country, and adding UConn would potentially bolster that reputation.

The 16-team Big 12 added four new members last year – Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Arizona – and will welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State this year.

Yearmark has been bullish on expansion. Soon after he took over as commissioner in 2022, he overruled Pac-12 officials to restore the league’s television contract to secure the Big 12’s future. He also used that secure future to add four former Pac-12 programs.

Yormark also pushed hard early in his tenure to get Gonzaga involved in basketball, though to no avail.