IRVING, TX (SNN-TV) – Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will officially join the Big 12 in 2023, after reaching an exit agreement with the American Athletic Conference.
After Oklahoma and Texas announced planned moves to the SEC last year, the Big 12 added Cincinnati, Houston, UCF and BYU to its conference.
The initial goal was to get the three schools from the AAC into the Big 12 in time for the 2023 season. BYU is currently an independent and will join the conference next year as well.
Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will each pay $18M to exit the American. The schools had been paying a $10M exit fee in four annual payments through 2024, and they agreed to pay an additional $8 million to leave in 2023.