The University of Cincinnati will officially join the Big 12. The university announced Friday that it has accepted an invite to join the conference issued by the Big 12 earlier in the day.Three other teams were also invited — University of Houston, University of Central Florida and Brigham Young University.“With 25 years of history, 69 team national champions and 702 individual national champions to its name, the Big 12 ranks among the nation’s premiere athletic conferences,” said University of Cincinnati President Neville G. Pinto. “UC’s membership in this Power Five conference will position us for even greater success both on and off the field.”The Big 12 boasts one of the biggest, most loyal fan bases in all of sports. Since their teams travel well in terms of fan support, the city, state and region will also benefit from the growing economic impact of Big 12 fans coming to Cincinnati each year, university officials said. UC officials say the Power Five membership will enable the university to re-energize its alumni and co-op connections in Big 12 states, too.A press conference is slated for 4:30 p.m. at the University of Cincinnati, where the university's board of trustees voted to allow President Neville Pinto to leaves the American Athletic Conference and join the Big 12. It's a move that has been widely speculated since last week. Sources within the University of Cincinnati told us earlier this week that they have officially submitted an application to join the Power Five conference, adding that confirmation from the conference was coming Friday.University of Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell said he was not involved in the decision making process, adding it has been largely kept under wraps.“I don’t think we can get too tied up in it as a team," Fickell said. "As a program – as far as recruiting and things like that – any buzz, we’re going to continue to use. We know darn well we’re a top 10 team right now. But in order to be that top 10 program, there’s going to have to be a lot of growth for us as a team, for us as a program, for us as an athletic department.”The moves come six weeks after the SEC invited University of Texas and University of Oklahoma to join its league in time for the 2025-26 season, though there remains the possibility that could happen sooner. For now though, the Big 12 appears focused on the additions and not how to facilitate the exits of the Longhorns and Sooners.UCF, Houston and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference, which requires members to give 27 months’ notice if they plan to leave the league. BYU is an independent in football and part of the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.The Longhorns and Sooners have said they will honor their current contracts with the Big 12 and do not plan to join the SEC until 2025, when the conference’s current television rights contracts with ESPN and Fox run out.If that holds true, the Big 12 could have up to 14 members for at least a season or two.Since the Big 12 started play as a 12-team league in 1996, Texas and Oklahoma are the only teams to win national football championships. Texas is the nation’s richest athletic program while Oklahoma is the six-time defending conference champion and still the only Big 12 team to make the four-team College Football Playoff. The Sooners lost semifinal games in each of their four CFP appearances.The Big 12 has been a 10-team league since the last significant round of conference realignment a decade ago that started with original members University of Nebraska (to the Big Ten) and University of Colorado, Boulder (to the Pac-12) leaving before Texas A&M University and University of Missouri went to the SEC. The Big 12 brought in Texas Christian University and West Virginia University, which are both now in their 10th league season.As for the expected additions, Cincinnati is currently ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll, while Central Florida has more than 70,000 students and was the self-proclaimed national champion after going 13-0 in 2017. BYU has a nationwide fan base while Houston is in the nation’s fourth-largest city and will keep four Texas teams in the league when the Longhorns depart.
The University of Cincinnati will officially join the Big 12.
The university announced Friday that it has accepted an invite to join the conference issued by the Big 12 earlier in the day.
Three other teams were also invited — University of Houston, University of Central Florida and Brigham Young University.
“With 25 years of history, 69 team national champions and 702 individual national champions to its name, the Big 12 ranks among the nation’s premiere athletic conferences,” said University of Cincinnati President Neville G. Pinto. “UC’s membership in this Power Five conference will position us for even greater success both on and off the field.”
The Big 12 boasts one of the biggest, most loyal fan bases in all of sports.
Since their teams travel well in terms of fan support, the city, state and region will also benefit from the growing economic impact of Big 12 fans coming to Cincinnati each year, university officials said.
UC officials say the Power Five membership will enable the university to re-energize its alumni and co-op connections in Big 12 states, too.
A press conference is slated for 4:30 p.m. at the University of Cincinnati, where the university's board of trustees voted to allow President Neville Pinto to leaves the American Athletic Conference and join the Big 12.
It's a move that has been widely speculated since last week.
Sources within the University of Cincinnati told us earlier this week that they have officially submitted an application to join the Power Five conference, adding that confirmation from the conference was coming Friday.
University of Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell said he was not involved in the decision making process, adding it has been largely kept under wraps.
“I don’t think we can get too tied up in it as a team," Fickell said. "As a program – as far as recruiting and things like that – any buzz, we’re going to continue to use. We know darn well we’re a top 10 team right now. But in order to be that top 10 program, there’s going to have to be a lot of growth for us as a team, for us as a program, for us as an athletic department.”
The moves come six weeks after the SEC invited University of Texas and University of Oklahoma to join its league in time for the 2025-26 season, though there remains the possibility that could happen sooner. For now though, the Big 12 appears focused on the additions and not how to facilitate the exits of the Longhorns and Sooners.
UCF, Houston and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference, which requires members to give 27 months’ notice if they plan to leave the league. BYU is an independent in football and part of the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.
The Longhorns and Sooners have said they will honor their current contracts with the Big 12 and do not plan to join the SEC until 2025, when the conference’s current television rights contracts with ESPN and Fox run out.
If that holds true, the Big 12 could have up to 14 members for at least a season or two.
Since the Big 12 started play as a 12-team league in 1996, Texas and Oklahoma are the only teams to win national football championships. Texas is the nation’s richest athletic program while Oklahoma is the six-time defending conference champion and still the only Big 12 team to make the four-team College Football Playoff. The Sooners lost semifinal games in each of their four CFP appearances.
The Big 12 has been a 10-team league since the last significant round of conference realignment a decade ago that started with original members University of Nebraska (to the Big Ten) and University of Colorado, Boulder (to the Pac-12) leaving before Texas A&M University and University of Missouri went to the SEC. The Big 12 brought in Texas Christian University and West Virginia University, which are both now in their 10th league season.
As for the expected additions, Cincinnati is currently ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll, while Central Florida has more than 70,000 students and was the self-proclaimed national champion after going 13-0 in 2017. BYU has a nationwide fan base while Houston is in the nation’s fourth-largest city and will keep four Texas teams in the league when the Longhorns depart.
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