The presidents and chancellors of the eight remaining members of the Big 12 Conference voted to add Brigham Young University, Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida on Friday morning. The conference, in a statement indicated that “the schools were approved unanimously”. A formal acceptance by individual boards was expected to be a Friday afternoon formality.
Less than two months ago, powerhouse football programs Oklahoma and Texas announced a move to the SEC by July 1, 2025. The move made by the Big 12 to replace two more departing schools, joining Missouri, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Nebraska’s moves from a decade ago, is a blow to the American Athletic Conference, which has Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF as members. BYU, based out of Provo, Utah, is an independent.
BYU plans on joining the Big 12 in the 2023-2024 season. For the schools leaving the AAC, a 27-month notice must be given prior to leaving, in addition to a buyout fee of $10 million.
While losing OU and Texas will undoubtedly hurt the Big 12 with football power status, it should be noted that Cincinnati currently boasts a Top-20 level football program, UCF has had notable success over the past five years, and BYU has strong football tradition, with alums like Super Bowl champion quarterbacks Steve Young and Jim McMahon. For men’s basketball, Houston, until coach Kelvin Sampson, has recently surged back to national power status for the first time since the Phi Slamma Jamma era of the early 1980s, Cincinnati is seen as a consistently strong program, and while the BYU basketball program is generally overshadowed by the football team, the Cougars status could grow, with the 18,987 seat Marriott Center, one of the biggest on-campus arenas in the country, housing the BYU program in Provo.