The National Championship game wrapped up on Monday night with Michigan beating UConn 69-63. But for the Huskies, it was still a very successful season as they played in their third National Championship Game in the last four years, winning the prior two, before losing on Monday night. However, we are 18 months removed from the Big 12 seriously considering adding the Huskies. As was reported at the time, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was a proponent, however, the Big 12 Presidents had questions and concerns. As a result, the decision was indefinitely tabled.
Fast forward to today, and it’s fair to wonder if the Big 12 missed out by not adding UConn for its basketball brand, and slowly-improving football brand.
Yormark vs. Big 12 Presidents
Brett Yormark has made a point to call the Big 12 the “second-best” basketball league after the NBA. The conference’s March Madness performance would beg to differ. As Yormark continues to push Big 12 basketball, with potential plans to decouple it from football, in future TV negotiations, UConn would have been an enormous addition.
In late 2024, Yormark said in a statement, “As Commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12. Following detailed discussions with my conference colleagues alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.”
The Big 12 seemingly wanted to get comfortable with its current 16-team set up, which was new at the time. Plus, football was a concern, but continues to improve, after going 9-4 last season as an Independent. But is it now too late?
Granted, there is still time for something like this to happen, but the competition may get stiffer for a UConn addition, notably from the ACC, which obviously prides itself on its basketball brands, while also having more natural former Big East rivals that may attract a University like UConn.
The New York City Market
This has long been a goal of Yormark’s. He wants to tap into the No. 1 market in the country, and his hometown. UConn has been an obvious way to accomplish that, with a strong alumni base around the New York City region.
But, that led to travel concerns from many around the Big 12. But for a conference that stretches from Provo, Utah to Orlando, Florida, how big of a lift is it to really add UConn? And what about the benefits to schools like West Virginia, Cincinnati and UCF? Does this allow the league to trend more towards “pod-style” scheduling formats that actually lessens the travel for all the teams in the league?
I know there is serious concern around Olympic sports spending a fortune on more long trips, which is a legitimate concern for budgets that are strained as is, but a larger footprint may make it so that non-revenue sports can actually pod better for travel and cost purposes.
What Now?
While the conference expansion front has been quiet as of late, the race is still on, the Big 12 and its decision makers would be wise to look at the potential addition of UConn as part of the arms race that college sports has become. And take the “trust, but verify” approach that the Huskies will do what they need to do to continue to make football competitive, while understanding the value is not about the gridiron, but rather the hardwood.
And the hardwood value in the zero-sum game of conference expansion, likely makes this a very worthy pursuit for the Big 12 Conference.
