Endeavor, the outside marketing consulting firm the Big 12 has hired, thinks UConn would be a great addition. Brett Yormark does, too, and AllState, from what I read, will consider the conference naming rights much more if UConn is added since they carry the NYC market. I have thought this for a while as I am sure others here have, but it really comes down to football being merely adequate, that's it.
Think of it like a 4x400m relay race in the spirit of the Summer Olympics that just ended about 1 month ago. UConn Women's Basketball, UConn Men's Basketball, and Brett Yormark, Endeavor, and NYC/Northeast market factors each "ran great legs to get a humongous lead" as they are great positive factors to getting a Big 12 invite. UConn Football has the last leg and such a "huge lead" all they need to do is merely be competitive with some decent offensive football to attract 75% capacity at the Rent for a large raucous crowd that will look good on TV-they just have to run a decent anchor leg and get across the finish line. Think of the last USA woman runner in 4X400 that had no pressure and really didn't have to run all that well because USA was so far ahead you could not see the 2nd place runner in the frame-that's the lead what UConn Football has, they don't have to be great. Yet UConn Football is falling woefully short.