Brett Yormark: Expansion conversations with Gonzaga, UConn are ‘no more’

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said the conference ended expansion conversations with UConn and Gonzaga.

Amid a lot of conference realignment this summer, the Big 12 added Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah starting in 2024. It expanded the conference to 16 teams for next fall.

But, it won’t go further than that with UConn and Gonzaga.

“I did have conversations with UConn and Gonzaga,” Yormark said on the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast. “Unfortunately, you know, things didn’t work out only because the dream scenario unfolded for us. So, those conversations are no longer. I’m a big admirer of both, those programs are fantastic for all the right reasons.

“But right now, you know, I’m focused on the transition of those four (schools) in right now. And also, how do I leverage the fact that (we have a) 16-team league in 10 states with 90 million people in four different time zones? So that’s my focus right now.”

Gonzaga would’ve been a member of the conference, but not a football member due to no program. UConn would’ve gone from Independent to joining a conference for the first time in a while.

Talks went back as far as May this year where Gonzaga and UConn discussions reportedly took center stage at league meetings in the spring.

At the time, the Big 12 commissioner wanted to explore the two schools to get the conference closer to 16 teams. While it wouldn’t have brought in two football powerhouses, Yormark wanted Gonzaga and UConn for the basketball pedigree.

Before Yormark took over, the Big 12 already took steps to address the departures of Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC as four new schools accepted invitations.

But there were some other things he had to address beyond replacing two of the conference’s top members. The media rights deal originally ran through 2025, but Yormark orchestrated a new, $2.28 billion agreement that runs through 2031.

While he walked back his “open for business” comments at Media Days in July, he told On3’s Eric Prisbell he’d be “a little disappointed” if the Big 12 doesn’t add add two teams by 2025, hence Gonzaga and UConn.

But since the Big 12 ended up with four Pac-12 teams in total, Yormark doesn’t seem to be open for business at the moment.