Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
Last week in Dallas at Big 12 AD meeting, UConn brass presented a deck highlighting investments and work they’d put into football to have it Big 12-ready by 2031. This presentation also included a sell by UConn that would lift Big 12 “from the best to the undisputed best” in basketball
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
There was also the obvious inclusion of the women’s program and how big of a boon that would be for women’s hoops in the Big 12. That said, UConn was summarily dismissed by Big 12 presidents as an expansion candidate just one year ago.
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
Why are we back here? Yormark has desired a NYC/northeast presence in the Big 12 since he took the job. The Huskies winning back-to-back titles in men’s BB reinforced his desire to try and convince Big 12 presidents to reconsider their previous collective stance on UConn.
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
Sources emphasized that it remains unclear, as of today, if Yormark is going to get enough support to get this over the finish line when he presents next Tuesday. A big unknown. Keep in mind, he pushed hard—real hard—for Gonzaga for basically a year, but that died on the vine.
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
There’s also the matter of the Big 12 JUST getting to 16 schools. A lot of ADs + presidents in that league have been steadfast that they wanted to stay at 16 for a while—especially w/ the fallout from the House case settlement still a huge unknown. Will they change their stance?
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
Yormark and UConn are selling that their inclusion would come at “no additional cost to any of the 16 Big 12 schools,” sources said. That primarily stems from football being held out until 2031.
Matt Norlander@MattNorlander
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3h
By the way, this all lands just a few weeks removed from the Big East announcing a solid new media rights deal through the end of the decade. A deal that was sweetened in no small part because, unlike the previous Big East media deal, UConn was a major selling point.