UConn is looking at the wrong conference. Here’s how Jim Phillips can change their minds:
Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images
The reality of conference realignment has made itself known this year. SMU already played its first football game as a member of the ACC, and the Syracuse Orange will face the other new conference members, Stanford and Cal, in the coming weeks. But what if they’ll also play a future rival this season... who’s also an old one?
UConn is still hanging around in the Big East but will soon be just one of two remaining FBS Independents, with Army joining the American this year and UMass heading to the MAC in 2025. And unlike Notre Dame, they don’t have an ideal revenue stream.
It was only a matter of time before their own realignment rumors started up again, but now they may be more than rumors. As first reported by The Athletic and repeated by others, the Big 12 is once again targeting the Huskies as a future addition.
Action Network’s Brett McMurphy reports that the bulk of UConn’s athletic programs could join as early as 2026, with football not coming into the mix until 2031, when the conference’s media rights are up for renewal.
This obviously isn’t about securing a middling football program; it’s about crowning yourselves THE premier college basketball conference - something the Big 12 has been pushing towards under Commissioner Brett Yormark. He believes that basketball is undervalued by the networks and is still a great revenue generator in football-first landscape. Adding a six-time men’s champ and the most historic women’s program to the fold alongside Kansas and others would boost their claim.
Which is exactly why the ACC should make their own appeal.
Just imagine: Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Syracuse, AND UConn? Three six-time champs and five of the 16 most-successful postseason teams in the men’s Tournament? No one is touching that.
My hypothetical pitch to the Huskies (all yours to copy Mr. Phillips) would be:
- Gain immediate football membership. The Big 12’s offer will not do anything to help save your program over the first five years. You’ll have an instant upgrade competition-wise, playing Boston College and Syracuse annually as well as a manageable non-conference schedule. Being in any Power conference will help you attract recruits, so why not do it a half-decade earlier?
- Maintain a regional presence. Sure, your fans will miss Big East basketball (which could be kept alive through non-conference games), but they can still watch you keep northeast ties against SU, BC and Pitt. Alternatively, your closest trips in the Big 12 are to Cinci and West Virginia - and don’t even get me started on the non-rev sports travel. It’s not a Stanford & Cal situation where they joined out of necessity - YOU have the power to do what’s best for your programs while also making a fair share of the pot. Speaking of which...
- Get a better slice. While I recognize that other ACC schools are not going to give up any of their guaranteed TV revenue, it’s still likely a better deal than the alternatives. The Big 12 splits rights between ESPN and FOX, neither of whom are going to want to shell out more cash to split another team. Translation - you’re not getting $30 million annually from that endeavor. But on the other scenario, where ESPN is the sole provider and they want to make it harder for Clemson and FSU - or Virginia and UNC - to break away from a friendly deal, I think they’ll risk a competitive offer to preserve long-term stability. Fellow goliaths in Duke and UNC will really help you pack the XL Center, and even a half-decent football team would bring up ticket revenue too.
Is that all EXTREMELY simplified? Of course it is; this is a 23-year-old columnist talking and not a legal expert.
What I am sure of though: if there is any real possibility of this move happening, John Wildhack should be one of the facilitators with his ESPN connections. His old network should love to have the exclusive rights to a team near their Bristol studios, and Wildhack should be licking his lips at the chance for a rejuvenated Big East rivalry - especially when Duke has long run out its welcome as SU’s marquee basketball matchup.
