Report: Big 12 Eyes UConn, Arizona in Pursuit of 14-Team League After Adding Colorado

With Colorado jumping to the Big 12 starting next year, the conference is plotting to add more schools to the mix in time for the 2024-25 academic year.

Per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde and Richard Johnson, the Big 12 wants to get up to 14 members with Pac-12 schools Arizona, Arizona State and Utah—as well as Connecticut, which is independent in football—being targeted by conference commissioner Brett Yormark.

The report notes Arizona is the most likely candidate among the Pac-12 programs to jump ship, with Connecticut considered a fallback option if none of the three teams decides to leave.

Colorado announced on Thursday it was leaving the Pac-12 to rejoin the Big 12 starting next year. The Buffaloes were an original member of the Big 12 when the conference debuted in 1996 and remained there through 2010-11 academic year.

The future of the Pac-12 has been a hot topic of discussion for most of the past year when it was announced USC and UCLA were moving to the Big Ten, effective Aug. 2, 2024.

One big source of consternation for the programs is the Pac-12 media rights deal. The current deal expires after the upcoming season.

ESPN's Heather Dinich reported on July 18 that an announcement about a new deal is expected in the "near future" and is "likely to include a mix of streaming and linear options and is expected to be on-par with the ACC and Big 12."

Forde and Johnson noted the three schools being courted by the Big 12 are "waiting for a full media-rights package to be presented to them" before making a decision.

According to Dinich, the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12 schools have to sign the grant of rights in order for the conference to stay intact. Their signature will "depend on their satisfaction with the new deal."

In the wake of Colorado's announcement, the Pac-12 said in a statement it will "embrace expansion opportunities" as soon as it finalizes a media rights deal.

Per Forde and Johnson, people in the industry have "expressed confusion" at this part of the Pac-12's strategy because its "TV partners in a spot of not knowing exactly what they're paying for" as the two sides negotiate a deal.

By comparison, the Big 12 renewed its media rights deals with ESPN and Fox for six years and $2.28 billion starting with the 2024-25 season in October after bringing in Houston, Central Florida, BYU and Cincinnati with Oklahoma and Texas set to join the SEC in 2024.

The addition of Colorado to that group will give the Big 12 a total of 13 schools starting next year. One more would bump it up to 14, one away from matching the ACC for third-most among Power 5 conferences.

The ACC has 15 members in every sport except football because Notre Dame is an independent. The SEC and Big Ten will both have 16 members starting next year.