Insider: Colorado will be in Big 12 soon due to donor pressure
Colorado football could soon be in the Big 12 due to donor pressure from the same boosters who were able to get their way with the Buffaloes’ hiring of Deion Sanders. Industry insider Greg Swaim tweeted out the claim late on July 22.
BREAKING: #Buffs will jump to #Big12 and won't wait for @Kliavkoff's "deal". CU admin getting pushback from HUGE donors threatening to pull both athletic AND academic funding if move not made. These were the same folks who wanted Prime, despite objections from academics elitists. pic.twitter.com/xLdZTqNIn3
— THE SWAIM SHOW (@GSwaim) July 23, 2023
“BREAKING: Buffs will jump to (the) Big 12 and won’t wait for (George Kliavkoff’s) ‘deal,'” Swaim prefaced before saying, “CU admin (is) getting pushback from HUGE donors threatening to pull both athletic AND academic funding if (the) move (is) not made. These were the same folks who wanted Prime, despite objections from academics elitists.” Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger had recently reported that Colorado was the only Pac-12 school registering mutual interest with the Big 12 about a jump.
“The Big 12’s pursuit of Pac-12 schools is real, though many believe that only one school has reciprocated the interest: Colorado,” Dellenger wrote. “Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s courtship of the Buffaloes is alive and well. Their dance will continue, likely until Kliavkoff produces a TV contract that is either good enough to keep CU or bad enough to see it go.”
Colorado football could be joined by college football independent in Big 12
As Swaim would later go on to say, CU could be joined by UCONN in the Big 12 as part of the latest round of college football realignment — which would include a hefty payday and Power Five status to the Huskies on the gridiron.
That's the other part of the story. Keep hearing that @ESPN and @FOXSports will give #UConn G5 status with $31.7M, but unable to verify...yet.
— THE SWAIM SHOW (@GSwaim) July 23, 2023
Yes, sorry...long day!! 🤣
— THE SWAIM SHOW (@GSwaim) July 23, 2023
Like Colorado, UCONN has been struggling to be competitive in recent seasons. A move to the Big 12 would assuredly make the latter a conference punching bag, with CU’s future being contingent on what Coach Prime is able to build in Boulder.
Of course, nothing is confirmed and for all we know, these rumors could ultimately go nowhere. But the Big 12 getting aggressive and making a “Prime Time” program acquisition like CU could pay off in a major way.