Big 12 invites Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, UCF to join conference

The Big 12 Conference announced Friday that they have extended membership invitations to Cincinnati, Houston, Brigham Young University, and Central Florida to join its conference.

The Big 12 said the eight continuing members unanimously approved the move of the conference.

According to the Associated Press, BYU is slated to join the Big 12 in all its sports by 2023.

UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference, which according to the AP, requires its schools to give the conference 27 months’ notice if they plan to leave.

“Today’s news confirms what we have said all along regarding our status as a power conference,” AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco said in a statement. “The irony that three of our schools are being asked to take the place of the two marquee schools which are leaving the Big 12 is not lost on us. Our conference was targeted for exceeding expectations in a system that wasn’t designed to accommodate our success.”

The news comes after the University of Oklahoma and Texas announced in July that they were leaving the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference.

OU and Texas are set to join the SEC in 2025.