The Big 12 is in talks with the four corner schools of Utah, Arizona, Arizona, State, and Colorado, along with Gonzaga as a basketball-only member, according to The Athletic.
Max Olson and Stewart Mandel reported Friday that the Big 12 has been in conversation with those five schools as the Pac-12’s television deal has not gone as the conference had planned. If this deal continues to be a lower amount than expected, they write, “Sources briefed on the discussions say the conference has been in recent contact with the so-called Four Corners schools — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — which has renewed optimism that convincing them to join is possible.”
The Big 12 is already set to add BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF this summer. This adds two more teams in the eastern time zone to join West Virginia, but it also move the Big 12 to the Mountain Time Zone with BYU.
The Athletic also writes that, “[Big 12 Commissioner Brett] Yormark is also deep in discussions with Gonzaga, but sources involved in the process indicated he wants clarity on the Pac-12’s situation before making that move.”
An addition of Gonzaga would be solely for basketball. A perennial top-15 team in the country, adding them to an already loaded Big 12 along with the addition of current No. 1-ranked Houston would make the Big 12 that much better. The Big 12 is under Yormark’s leadership, and he already struck a deal with ESPN and Fox in the fall.
The Pac-12 is set to go through transition of their own as UCLA and USC are soon headed for the Big Ten. The Pac-12 has also been in expansion talks with some schools but according to the article, there is Pac-12 Presidents that are not comfortable going that route yet. Those same sources say, “if Yormark can convince the leadership at two Pac-12 schools to join the Big 12, that might be all it takes to land all four and pull the conference apart.”
Full article can be found here.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
