Presidents of American Athletic Conference and Mountain West schools, grab your phones. You’ve got some calls to make.
After a seemingly endless string of “will they or won’t they?” stories, brought on by the league itself, the Big 12 announced following a Board of Directors meeting Tuesday afternoon it has authorized commissioner Bob Bowlsby to pursue expansion candidates.
Not a lot of details are ironed out as of yet -- this wouldn’t be the Big 12 if they were -- but the concept is a go.
Oklahoma president and board chair David Boren said the Big 12 could become 12 again or balloon all the way up to 14.
Big 12 board of directors voted unanimously for commissioner to look at possible expansion candidates, which includes Houston
— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) July 19, 2016
Boren: Expansion by two or four teams is both on the table.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) July 19, 2016
Boren said looking at potential schools' fan bases, academic standing, television following, reputations.
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) July 19, 2016
While no one’s coming out and saying it now, the top candidates for expansion figure to be Cincinnati, Memphis, Connecticut, Houston, South and/or Central Florida, BYU and Colorado State in some order.
Boren: Today "is a statement from the board that we want to move forward." Want "full evaluation" of interest levels and possible proposals.
— David Ubben (@davidubben) July 19, 2016
One thing that differentiates the Big 12 from others: Bowlsby has used the term “negotiate” when discussing the expansion process. With more interested parties than spots to give, the Big 12 can afford to be selective.
Boren is saying, again, that the Big 12 essentially wants schools to bid against themselves. Who’s going to make the Big 12 the most money?
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 19, 2016
Big12: 6 factors cited for Big 12 expansion: Strength of athletic dept, fan base size, media market, school's reputation, academic strength.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 19, 2016
While no one attached firm dates to anything, the implication Tuesday was that this would be taken care of sooner rather than later.
One thing is certain: this is the Big 12 we’re talking about. No amount of craziness is off the table here.
This expansionpalooza is gonna be amazing. The Big 12 is going to pull 2 or 4 schools from the poor house to $30 million a year.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) July 19, 2016