ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF is reportedly negotiating a $17-20 million settlement with the American Athletic Conference to clear a path to the Knights joining the Big 12 Conference in 2023.
Cincinnati, Houston and UCF have been in negotiations with the AAC the past couple of months after all three accepted bids to join the Big 12 last September. The intent was to join the league by July 2024 at the latest, hoping to join by 2023. AAC bylaws require schools to give 27 months’ notice and pay a $10 million exit fee, but an earlier exit would mean a negotiated settlement.
According to a report by Action Network’s Brett McMurphy, that exit fee is somewhere in the “$17 million to $20 million range.” Initial reports had the AAC seeking $30-$35 million per school, which would be nearly double ($17 million) what the league received from UConn in 2019 when the school left early to rejoin the Big East.
