Huge 12’s discussions to include UConn have stalled

Pete Thamel, ESPNSep 5, 2024, 12:18 PM ET The Huge 12’s conversations about potentially adding UConn as a member have actually stalled, commissioner Brett Yormark stated Thursday morning.

“Following in-depth discussions with my conference colleagues along with UConn leadership, we have actually collectively decided to pause our discussions at this time,” Yormark stated in a declaration. “We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college sports.”

Last month, UConn officials satisfied personally with Huge 12 athletic directors at their league conferences in the Dallas area. The meeting included athletic director David Benedict and board chair Daniel Toscano, sources stated. It included a discussion about how UConn would purchase football in order to be competitive in the Big 12.

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The plan for UConn would have been coming into the league in football in 2031 and earlier in other sports.Per sources

, the talks stalled and ended up being tabled since of the timing. With the initial season of the 16-team league underway and schools facing uncertainty in your house v. NCAA case and looming choices on profits share, including membership simply wasn’t a priority.The choice to table the talks does not come as a big surprise. Back when UConn became part of the talks last month, an aura of uncertainty hung over the Huskies potentially being added.At the time, ESPN reported that there needed

to be some votes included for the league to get the votes of 12 of the 16 Huge 12 presidents it would have needed to include UConn. A source summarized the talks at the time in this manner: “There’s a far distance between discussions and anything that would happen,”the high-ranking Big 12 source said.The Huskies have long been wished for by Yormark, who sees college basketball as

an undervalued asset. UConn has the very best combination of guys’s and females’s basketball teams in the country, as the males’s group has won the previous 2 championship games. It likewise touches the New York market, which would in theory add worth in any approaching tv deals.Yormark said in the statement, “As Commissioner, it is my obligation to check out a variety

of value-creating chances on behalf of the Big 12.”The Huge 12 has been thought about the country’s top basketball league in recent seasons, which would have only been enhanced with the addition of the Huskies.UConn has actually played in the Big East since the 2020-21 season after playing in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-14 through 2019-20. In a comparable vein, the Big 12 had talks with Gonzaga, but those did not pertain to fruition.