New Big 12 Schools Negotiating AAC Settlement Up to $20M

Three of the Big 12’s newest programs may be able to join sooner than expected.

Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF are working out a settlement to leave the American Athletic Conference on July 1, 2023, for a figure in the “$17 million to 20 million range,” per the Action Network.

The trio were initially scheduled to join the Big 12 on July 1, 2024, as the AAC’s bylaws require schools to provide 27 months’ notice and pay $10 million to leave.

Those schools — as well as BYU — were announced as the newest members of the Big 12 in September. BYU is already set to join the conference in 2023.

The Big 12 added the four schools after Oklahoma and Texas announced their departures for the Southeastern Conference in 2025.

The two schools will have to pay nearly $80 million in exit fees and could forfeit up to $160 million in conference distributions until they leave.