Big 12 Expansion Put on 'Pause' by Brett Yormark

After expanding to 16 teams before the start of the 2024 season, the Big 12 has been projected to expand even further.

Commissioner Brett Yormark aims to lessen the gap between them and the college football powerhouses that are the Big Ten and SEC.

Yormark has been targeting UConn for nearly a year, but with the addition of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State, that interest was swept under the rug, and the conference seemed happy with the current 16-team field.

The rumors surrounding the Huskies and the Big 12 ramped up throughout the month of August and it seemed to be a serious deal, even to the point of having UConn representatives meet with the conference's upper brass on multiple occasions regarding the potential admission.

However, in a sharp turn of events, Yormark announced the immediate pause of discussions between the conference and the school and there are no signs of talks resuming anytime soon.

“As Commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12,” Yormark said in his statement .

“Following detailed discussions with my conference colleagues alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.”

While not offering much on the football side of things, UConn's immense presence in college basketball would've been an invaluable addition to the Big 12's already impressive basketball resume.

As for how a potential UConn admission would affect Utah, it would not only get more eyes on the conference, which in turn generates more revenue for the programs within the Big 12, but it would also hopefully motivate the Runnin' Utes to further their push to be a competitive program in what would be the best basketball conference in college sports.