The Big 12 is in talks with UConn about joining the all-sports league, sources confirmed to ESPN.

There has been no vote on a possible Huskies membership, and there will be no vote in the near future. Sources warned that there is resistance from several members that needs to be overcome.

The talks have progressed to the point that UConn athletic director David Benedict and board chairman Daniel Toscano met in person with Big 12 athletic directors last week in Dallas to plead their case, sources told ESPN. The discussions focused on football financing and how UConn could be competitive when it joins the league in 2031, sources said.

According to sources, a meeting of the Big 12 board of directors is scheduled with league presidents next week to discuss specifics of the deal.

“I think the word is ‘premature,'” said a senior Big 12 official. “There’s a long way between conversations and whatever happens. The presidents haven’t seen the case yet.”

The addition would be for all sports, and the delay until 2031 in football would theoretically give UConn a chance to catch up and be better prepared to rejoin the league at that time in terms of funding and a talent upgrade through NIL. The Athletic first reported the potential board call and the talks.

The other sports, including UConn’s flagship basketball programs, would be added once UConn could negotiate or sit out the 27-month waiting period to leave the league.

Sources cautioned that there is much more to discuss in future talks, as the votes to add UConn have not yet been recorded. While some schools are in favor of adding the Huskies, multiple athletic directors within the league have spoken out against adding them, sources told ESPN. Several others are still undecided. The final vote would come down to 12 of the league’s 16 presidents.

Some of the pushback is due to the timing of the talks, as league officials are busy working through the House-NCAA settlement. There are also questions about how much the move would benefit the conference in football.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is optimistic that basketball will become a bigger financial driver of the league’s television deals in the coming years. UConn is the sport’s dominant program and touches the nation’s largest market, with a strong presence in the New York area. UConn is coming off back-to-back national titles in men’s basketball and has had the nation’s best brand in women’s basketball over the past generation. UConn’s resurgence in men’s basketball has come under coach Dan Hurley and coincided with the school’s return to the Big East for the 2020-21 season after playing in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-14 through 2019-20.

The Big 12 has been one of the nation’s top basketball leagues for years, and the addition of UConn could potentially further enhance that reputation.

The 16-team Big 12 added four new members last year: Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Arizona. This year, the club welcomes Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State.

Yormark is bullish on expansion. He outmaneuvered Pac-12 officials to extend the league’s television deal and secure the Big 12’s future shortly after taking over as commissioner in 2022. He also leveraged that secure future to eventually add the four former Pac-12 programs.

Yormark also pushed hard early in his tenure to add Gonzaga to the basketball team, but that ultimately did not happen.