I think it might be more accurate to say they have to make significant sacrifices to stay at the top. They have one of the highest paid coaches in the country, and seems like their NIL situation is at least reasonable (there was a recent coach poll that put their NIL situation at 13th nationally, which isn't the worst, though who knows how reliable any of that is). In the end, though, the state is significantly propping things up. They are funding significant renovations to both the XL center and Gampel....public funding that, say, Duke would never get.I think I would phrase the lessons from UConn slightly differently (although they probably add up to the same thing). UConn has won 2 national championships in a row. By pursuing Big12 membership, they are saying they don’t think they can maintain that as members of a basketball only conference, as members of the Big East. If the ACC breaks up, it’s a pretty strong statement that moving to the Big East is not a smart option for us if we want to keep competing at the top of the sport.
The B12 still probably draws more bball money than BE, just because of the size of the league and it's alum bases. The BE has quality teams, but Providence and SHU aren't bringing in the eyeballs like even KSU. So Uconn probably would come out ahead there, even without a football payout, though with a path to getting back into a league there, it would be a great offer were it real.
On the football thing, some of the big challenge is having the stadium in hartford. The Rent got decent turnout during the Orlovsky era, but it's sad lately. Pulling in Mora as the coach says they're serious about trying to have some sort of competitive football, but it ain't going to happen without a league...it's one more hurdle than even Duke has.
On the B12 side, I think there are two parties that want this to happen:
1) B12 leadership believes that bball is an under-capitalized resource given the general growing popularity of the game on a macro scale. It will never reach fball, likely, but if their goal is to be a mid-high tier football conference with the best basketball, it's certainly not the worst niche to fill. In that vein, adding BYU, having baylor and kansas and houston, and seeking to add Uconn and Gonzaga, if the rumors are true, align with a strategic long term investment to solidify that position.
2) Uconn is the hottest basketball property that ESPN doesn't have a pie slice of. I think the "ESPN is in Connecticut!" thing is over-played, but not having the 2x defending champion, and hottest coach in the sport on the family must irk their brass a good deal. Getting together a package to solidify Uconn's future and take a slice of that pie makes sense.
So in the end, who isn't on board? The teams of the B12. Even if ESPN and the league could get a package that is financially neutral to all the other teams (which means ESPN is chipping in 30 million for Uconn, or some such), is the league in a better spot by having uconn than not? That's what the parties would have to convince the other schools, and pretty much where they're at as far as I understand.