College football realignment: Big 12 makes decision on further expansion

Where things stand in the Big 12 after the conference embarked on another historic round of football realignment this offseason

James Parks | Aug 16, 2023

College football realignment: Big 12 makes decision on further expansion /

The Big 12 was instrumental in kicking off the latest historic phase of college football conference realignment, adding four soon-to-be former Pac-12 member schools, but commissioner Brett Yormark says his league will not go any further in pursuing more expansion right now.

"We're done," Yormark told The Marchand and Ourand Podcast.

Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah voted to join the Big 12 in another active offseason that also saw Oregon and Washington elect to join the Big Ten, with all the moves, including that of USC and UCLA to the B1G, effective next summer.

"We had a vision. When I came onboard, there [were] three things that we really wanted to address, big picture items," Yormark said.

"One, we wanted to do our TV deal and go out early, stabilize the conference, and give us a foundation for the future. Two, we wanted to resolve the Oklahoma-Texas situation. When I was introduced, effectively on my first day, that was a big issue. Would they leave a year early, or not? And what that relationship might look like going forward. And then the last of the three items was expansion. Could we set ourselves up for future expansion? My board had an appetite to pursue that. Those were the three things we wanted to do. We accomplished all three in my first year."

Insiders revealed there was interest on the part of the Big 12 to add either Gonzaga or UConn, or both, in an effort to increase its already impressive basketball rotation, but the conference will not pursue either of those schools now.

"Those conversations are no longer," Yormark said. "Unfortunately, things didn't work out only because the dream scenario unfolded for us."

That dream being the addition of the Four Corners schools, which, along with the addition of BYU, Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati starting this season, the Big 12 hopes will offset the loss of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC next year.

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