In case you have missed memo after memo after memo and... well, you get the idea, the Big 12 is not looking to expand its conference to get to 12 member institutions. At least, not anytime in the foreseeable future.
With no ideal candidates out there for the taking in the eyes of the Big 12, or at least without a pair of equally attractive candidates that would give the conference a boost in pedigree and standing with their addition, the need for the conference to expand is non-existent. This has been the Big 12’s company line since dropping to 10 members with the departures of Nebraska (Big Ten), Colorado (Pac-12), Missouri and Texas A&M (SEC) and the addition of TCU and West Virginia.
“I think our CEOs and our athletic directors are very heavily of the mind that 10 is the right number for us,” Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in a report from The Washington Post Friday. “And I was proud of our athletic directors for not overreacting. There was no knee-jerk to it. They were very thoughtful.”
The Big 12 is open to the idea of naming One True Champion, as the conference slogan goes, after it is perceived the conference did Baylor and TCU no favors by not pushing for one in the College Football Playoff picture. Who knows if it would have made a difference either way, but the conference took a beating in public perception with the way it handled Baylor and TCU.
“We knew that with a 10-team league, there’s going to be some years that are going to be in our favor and there’s going to be some years that are not,” TCU Athletics Director Chris Del Conte said in the Washington Post story. “We knew that going in. We almost had two teams in. The ball goes one way or the other, now they’re talking about the Big 12, ‘Boy, they got it right. Fourteen’s way too big, twelve’s way too big. That Big 12, 10 teams, they got two teams in.’ So you can’t overreact to one day.”
One suggestion for the Big 12 has been to hold a conference championship game even with 10 members. This is an idea that could gain traction if the ACC’s push to deregulate some rules like division champions and conference title games develop.