Cincinnati, Houston, UCF To Join Big 12 In 2023

Welcome to the Big 12! Three schools negotiate buyouts to move conferences in 2023.

© Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Three new additions to the Big 12 Conference– Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF– reportedly negotiated a buyout with the American Athletic Conference (AAC) to move to the Big 12 in 2023.

Wheels are in motion for the teams to join the Big 12 beginning on July 1, 2023, making this their last year in the AAC. The negotiation includes a reported $17-$20 million buyout.

Last summer, the impending moves from the three schools, as well as independent BYU, were made official. However, contracts for Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF bound them to the AAC until at least 2024, with a buyout needed for an early exit. According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, that was being negotiated Tuesday.

The Big 12 isn't the only conference undergoing major changes on the back of this deal. Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA would move to the AAC beginning July 1, 2023, as previously settled.

The moves were sparked by a bombshell announcement from both Oklahoma and Texas, who announced their intent to leave for the SEC. That, though, won't happen until 2025 when their deals with the Big 12 expire. Their reported buyouts would need to be in excess of $70 million each, a hard stance taken by the conference to retain their two biggest money-getters for the next couple seasons.

Should everything go as planned, the Big 12 would be playing with 14 teams for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, on par with other Power 5 conferences like the Big Ten and SEC.

The three teams have multi-sport relevance (with Cincinnati and Houston bringing serious basketball prowess), but the move is largely due to their football success. Notably, Cincinnati became the first Group of Five team to make the College Football Playoff (CFP) a season ago. Houston's won at least 10 games in five seasons since 2006 and won 12 games in 2021. UCF completed an undefeated season in 2017 and won at least 10 games from 2017-19.

The Big 12 Conference is no stranger to adding teams from smaller conferences, with TCU moving from the Mountain West and West Virginia moving from the Big East in 2012.

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