Big 12, UConn discuss Huskies joining conference; commissioner Brett Yormark to meet with league presidents

The Big 12 and the University of Connecticut have reignited negotiations on the Huskies becoming a member of the league in all sports except football as early as 2026 as Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark looks to further expand the conference’s footprint, sources confirmed to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. 

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that parties from both sides met last week in Dallas to discuss the possibility. 

Yormark, who took over the Big 12 commissioner job in August 2022, has long made expansion in the Northeast a priority for the conference as the landscape of realignment has constantly changed since his hiring. It’s not known to what extent UConn and Big 12 decision-makers might support such a move, and previous discussions last year went dormant without a deal. But following the meeting last week, Yormark is expected to meet with Big 12 presidents and athletic directors on Tuesday, according to Norlander, to present what adding UConn to the Big 12 might look like. It’s uncertain at this stage if Big 12 presidents are willing to flip their stance on UConn.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark declined comment when reached by CBS Sports.

Such a move would burnish the Big 12’s standing as the best conference in basketball by nabbing UConn — which has won 16 national championships in men’s and women’s basketball since 1999 and claimed back-to-back men’s titles — from the Big East. Importantly to the Big 12 and central to UConn’s pitch: It would lift the Big 12 from the best in basketball to the undisputed best, as Norlander reported.

The Big 12 under Yormark has undergone a substantial change over the last two years with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the league for the SEC and UCF, Cincinnati, BYU and Houston joining the league via the AAC. The conference also added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12, strengthening its numbers to 16 member schools. Recent expansion moves could cause Big 12 presidents and athletic directors to be apprehensive about adding another school, though, particularly with the House settlement case fallout still unknown. 

Yormark previously tried to persuade Big 12 brass to adopt Gonzaga into the league, but that never gained traction.

UConn’s a different beast, though there’s also the complicating factor of the Big East’s new media rights deal announced at the end of June. UConn was one of the big selling points in those negotiations given its standing nationally. Meanwhile, the Big 12’s new media deal — set to kick in next year — spans six years and was agreed on before adding the four Pac-12 schools. UConn may negotiate its share of earnings but it’s unlikely to be the $31.7 million-per-year average that Big 12 schools will be paid out by media partners Fox and ESPN, especially if its contributions to the football inventory would not commence until 2031.

UConn was an original member of the Big East before briefly leaving for the AAC and returning in 2020. Transitioning from the Big East to the Big 12 would bolster the league’s standing as the best in college basketball and could enrich UConn beyond its current situation largely by boosting its football program, but UConn has largely flailed away from the league it was a founding member of. In seven seasons in the AAC, the men’s program went 112-63 and missed the NCAA Tournament five times. However, the women’s basketball team under Geno Auriemma won three national championships in that span with the AAC, including a three-peat in 2014, 2015 and 2016.