Energized by the addition of Colorado on Thursday to reach 13 members for the 2024–25 academic year, the Big 12 plans to press the pace to get to 14, sources tell Sports Illustrated.
Specifically, the Big 12 wants answers quickly from one to three Pac-12 schools: Arizona, Arizona State and Utah. Adding one is the most likely scenario, sources familiar with the Big 12’s game plan say, and that is the short-term goal.
“We’re looking at 14,” a source says. Arizona appears to be the most likely of the three to go.
There are competing timelines for the Pac-12 members and their Big 12 suitors, which adds a layer of tension. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah are waiting for a full media-rights package to be presented to them by commissioner George Kliavkoff, which has been a long time coming. Those schools will also be interested in hearing what Kliavkoff’s plan is for replacing Colorado. Meanwhile, the Big 12 is ready to put its expansion targets “on the clock” toward a fast decision, sources say, in order to expedite realignment for next year.
In a statement regarding the departure of Colorado, the Pac-12 said Thursday, “Immediately following the conclusion of our media rights deal, we will embrace expansion opportunities and bring new fans, markets, excitement and value to the Pac-12.” The timeline remains vague, however, as it has been for months.
Industry sources expressed confusion about that part of the Pac-12’s strategy. The league has placed TV partners in a spot of not knowing exactly what they’re paying for. The Big 12 did the opposite last summer, adding Houston, UCF, BYU and Cincinnati to replace Texas and Oklahoma before re-upping its TV deal with its existing partners.
If none of the Pac-12 schools follow Colorado to the Big 12, Brett Yormark is likely to pivot his focus to Connecticut. The league membership is less united behind the idea of adding a primarily basketball school like UConn than it was Colorado, though, which could slow the pace there. “There is some work to do on studying UConn,” a Big 12 source says. It should be noted that UConn has already shared a conference with three of the four new Big 12 schools when they were all members of the American Athletic Conference. It was not a happy marriage and toward the end, as the Huskies publicly decried an AAC television deal it was not in favor of. A potential move to the Big 12 for the Huskies would be, from a geographic sense, a repeat of the AAC move in 2013. The Huskies—or any other school coming to the Big 12 from outside the Power 5 conferences—would also not receive a full revenue share upon entry, sources say.
There are additional expansion options beyond UConn, some of which don’t play football. The primary candidate outside the football realm is West Coast Conference basketball power Gonzaga, which would give the Big 12 a school in all four time zones and a coast-to-coast presence. St. John’s, in Yormark’s hometown of New York, also has been floated as a possibility. Yormark has been clear that basketball is key, adding that basketball is “a catalyst for a lot of things moving forward,” including “international expansion.” Teams that advance in the NCAA basketball tournament also earn more money for their conferences—each round means more cash in both the school’s and conference’s pockets. The Zags have made eight straight Sweet 16s and 24 straight NCAA tournament appearances.
One industry source noted that, because of their consistent success, Gonzaga has developed a large fan base outside of Spokane and become “truly a national team that can drive significant reach for both linear and streaming broadcasts.”
That would be helpful in Yormark’s push to broaden the reach of the league beyond Texas and the flyover states.
