There is a some twitter buzz about a possible big 12/Big East merger.

[CL82]

Nothing credible, but it appears that that’s the rumor of the day.



Whoever these guys are, they don’t seem to realize that we are in the big east, so that kind of hurts hurts credibility a bit. I also heard a UConn, St. John’s, Villanova to the Big 12 from a few sources, no one credible though. Personally, I think these guys all just riff off each other.

I would not be thrilled to go to the big 12 alone, we’d be on an island but if it outs a merger with the Big East that gets us all a big jump in media money, I guess it’s a good thing. It had to be a big jump, because our travel costs would go up about $2 million based upon what UConn paid in the American.

Again, none of this is particularly credible.

 

[shu09]

Who knows, but nothing surprises me anymore in today's greedy world of college athletics. It's not the craziest idea. Gonzaga has met with Big 12 reps, and probably Big East too.

 

[TrueBlue1989]

B12 already turned down UConn. Decisions are predicated on football. These conferences will never merge. No reason for either side.

 

[CL82]

B12 already turned down UConn. Decisions are predicated on football. These conferences will never merge. No reason for either side.

Sort of, BYU’s anti-gay policy made them decide to shut down that particular expansion bid. But up to that point we were among the four teams they picked, notwithstanding the bad geographic fit.

But the thing I find interesting about this latest set of rumors is the notion that “basketball schools” are targets. (I don’t think that’s a realistic possibility.)

 

[setoniansource]

Interesting note in an article from The Athletic about the Big 12 and PAC 12 that at first read makes me think a Big 12/Big East merger could make more sense.


Yormark strongly believes basketball is undervalued in these TV rights talks. He has dropped hints about an interest in unbundling it from football and selling those rights separately when the Big 12 next hits the market in 2030-31. That’s one motivation behind the Big 12’s continued talks with hoops powerhouse Gonzaga. Joining as a non-football member would mean a smaller revenue share for the Bulldogs, but they’d be an inarguably valuable addition. Arizona, a top-10 program with more Pac-12 titles than every school but Big Ten-bound UCLA, would similarly boost the best conference in men’s college basketball and its long-term ambitions.

“I think we have an opportunity to monetize basketball in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Yormark said in an appearance on the Wilner & Canzano podcast last month. “It’s certainly something I’m thinking about. So if the opportunity ever exists where, within the construct of what makes sense for expansion, as part of that, we could double down on basketball and further cement our leadership position, it’s certainly something that I’m willing to consider.”

What we're hearing on the Big 12/Pac-12 power struggle

Brett Yormark has eyed westward expansion since the day he was hired as the Big 12’s new commissioner last summer.

theathletic.com

 

[CL82]

For what it’s worth, I don’t see a big 12/big east mergers being feasible. The football playing schools are going to be reluctant to share revenue with you, even a fractional share, and most of the biggest schools have an institutional distrust of D1 football.

Don’t get me wrong, in someways it’s the best of all possible worlds for Connecticut. We get to continue to compete against the Big East schools, but would be part of a P5 conference and earning P5 money.

 

[radecicco]

Interesting what the B12 is talking about. But so far it’s just talk. Football is still its #1 priority.