Big 12

Report: Big 12 Expansion Negotiations to Discuss Adding Gonzaga

Published

11 months ago

May 30, 2023

Phill Ellsworth/ESPN Images Oscar Tshiebwe Gonzaga Drew Timme

Big 12 officials are expected to meet in West Virginia this week to talk about expansion negotiations, per Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated. Dellenger reports that the meeting includes the ongoing talks of adding Gonzaga for basketball.

As Big 12 meetings arrive this week, expansion talks are expected to take center stage among ADs & school presidents.
That includes on-going discussions with Gonzaga, among others, as commissioner Brett Yormark pursues a 14 or 16-team conference.https://t.co/iOSXvDRJZl
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 29, 2023

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark enters his first full summer in his role. Yormark has looked to expand the conference after Texas and Oklahoma depart for the SEC in 2024. Yormark has held events in New York City to promote the Big 12 and is open to expansion in the west. It has also been reported that the conference is going to try and host football and men’s basketball games in Mexico for future years. There’s a clear indication that the Big 12 wants to expand.

The Big 12 is heading into the 2023-24 academic year with 14 teams for just a short one-year run. Texas and Oklahoma will leave the conference in the summer of 2024 but first will introduce BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF on July 1 of this year. Both football and basketball will have different schedules for the first time in the Big 12 in over a decade.

By the 2024-25 year, the Big 12 will be down to 12 schools.

Yormark and the Big 12 have options and one scenario is adding basketball-only schools. The Big 12 may look at Gonzaga, Dayton and the entire Big East conference if they would like to add basketball-only programs.

Gonzaga has put themselves in a position to be known as one of the modern-day blue bloods. Since the hiring of Mark Few in 1999, the Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Tournament Championship twice, 2-Final Fours, 13-Sweet Sixteens and 24-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

“I would think it would be a tremendous awakening for Gonzaga to get in this league and play who we play day after day,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said last November. “You don’t get to make your own schedule in the Big 12.”

What should the Big 12 do in regard to expansion?