One of Connecticut’s U.S. Senators is not a fan of the possibility of UConn joining the Big 12 Conference.
Senator Chris Murphy shared his thoughts on X on Tuesday, and said he thinks that the Huskies should always stay in the Big East and that chasing football will result in them getting “burned”.
This is the first noteworthy figure around UConn who has come out against a potential move. Last weekend, Marc D’Amelio, a Norwalk native and 1991 UConn graduate, who created the D’Amelio Huskies Collective, shared his support for a move to the Big 12. He wrote on X, “We need to control our own destiny and it seems like the Big 12 is the right and only opportunity we have if you believe the future of college athletics includes football.”
It’s also been reported that head basketball coach Danny Hurley is not against the potential move.
However, there’s still a lot that has to happen for this move to come to fruition.
The TV contracts remain a hurdle. Earlier this summer, the Big East signed a new media contract with Fox, NBC, and TNT running until 2031. The contracts include language that would cause the overall value to decrease if UConn (or any school) were to leave, according to Front Office Sports. The contracts require wholesale renegotiations if a certain number of schools depart.Â
The Big East does not have a grant of rights, but requires a 27-month notice for an early departure and a $15 million exit fee. If UConn wanted to leave the Big East by next season (or with only 12 months’ notice), as the reports indicated, it would likely have to negotiate and shell out even more.
Reports have indicated that the Big 12 could bring in UConn basketball as soon as 2026, with football joining in 2031. The 2031 timeline would coincide with the Big 12’s next media rights deal. The Big 12’s current media rights deal with FOX and ESPN expires after the 2030-31 school year.
Is the Big 12 willing to help with that high-dollar figure, if needed? Not of that is clear at this point.
UConn’s basketball program has won six national championships in the last 30 years (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, and 2024). The six championships put the program in a tie for third most all-time and is the most of any program since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.
