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The Big 12 announced that the launch of its Big 12 Mexico initiative, slated to begin this December, has been delayed with a new target date of 2025.
The conference announced last June that it planned to host basketball, women’s soccer and baseball games in Mexico, tipping off with Kansas and Houston playing men’s and women’s basketball games in Mexico City’s Arena CDMX in December. The Big 12 also announced it would explore establishing a football bowl game in Monterrey starting in 2026, which would be the first bowl game ever played in Mexico. Women’s soccer and baseball teams also planned to play exhibitions against clubs in the region as part of the conference’s “first international extension.”
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But the Big 12 cited a “variety of major initiatives have been added to the Conference’s agenda” as the reason for the delay in a post on X, most notably “the onboarding of four new member institutions.” The Big 12 is adding the Four Corner schools from the erstwhile Pac-12 — Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah — for the 2024-25 season, as Texas and Oklahoma depart for the SEC.
An update on Big 12 Mexico. pic.twitter.com/ckINSp4cVx
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) April 2, 2024
The Big 12 is also hosting its football media days in Las Vegas for the first time this summer, adding two new sports — women’s lacrosse and beach volleyball — for the 2024-25 season and moving to a new headquarters in Dallas. All of those were added after the original Big 12 Mexico announcement, and the league wants to ensure each receives the necessary attention before taking on its Mexico ambitions.
The league promoted the tip-off event during the Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments in Kansas City last month. Commissioner Brett Yormark previously stated that Mexico is a natural extension of the Big 12’s footprint.
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“The Big 12 will continue to build its brand in Mexico through its broadcast partners and remains enthusiastic about bringing the Big 12 to Mexico,” the conference said.
Required reading
- Big 12 to play basketball, soccer, baseball games in Mexico; exploring bowl game in Monterrey
- Behind the scenes of Brett Yormark’s yearlong push to get the Big 12 to 16
(Photo: Ray Carlin / USA Today)
