It’s happening.
The Big 12 is expected to formally welcome four new members — BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF — to its ranks on Friday following a morning meeting of university chancellors and presidents from across the conference.
All four schools reportedly applied for league membership on Wednesday, and it is universally believed that the Big 12 will accept them with open arms. You could call it a done deal. Friday’s meeting is viewed as a formality.
The Big 12 is about to start a new chapter in its turbulent existence, which began in 1994 and started play in the fall of 1996.
At its inception, the Big 12 was home to a dozen powerful neighbors who used to dwell in the Big Eight and Southwest conferences. They did some great things together until Colorado and Nebraska bolted for other conferences in 2010. Then Missouri and Texas A&M did the same a year later. When Oklahoma and Texas announced they were also on the way out, it was time for commissioner Bob Bowlsby and the Big 12’s remaining schools to hit the reset button and refortify the conference via expansion.
The Big 12 identified the four most obvious expansion candidates from outside the power conferences and worked quickly to add them.
GETTING TO KNOW THE BIG 12’S NEW MEMBERS
Brigham Young University was attractive because of its massive fan base and football history. The Cougars finished last season ranked 11th in the final AP top 25 and won a national championship in 1984.
The Cougars reside in Provo, Utah just south of Salt Lake City. They play in a football stadium that seats 63,470 and will become the Big 12’s largest venue after Oklahoma and Texas leave. They have been members of several conferences through the years, but went independent in football 10 years ago when Utah left for the Pac-12.
BYU’s other teams reside in the West Coast Conference.
Cincinnati provides a much-needed traveling partner for West Virginia. The Bearcats also have a top 10 football team behind quarterback Desmond Ridder and coach Luke Fickell.
Ohio is one of the best states for football recruiting, and it will be interesting to see if Big 12 schools explore the region after Cincinnati joins the conference.
Houston should help the Big 12 repair its presence in the Lone Star State after Texas bolts for the SEC. Much like TCU, Houston was left to wander the wilderness when it was excluded from the original Big 12. But now it is getting another shot with a power conference.
These Cougars have been good in both men’s basketball and football within the past decade. Houston made the Final Four last season and should boost the Big 12 on the hardwood.
Fun fact: Both of Houston’s most prominent coaches used to coach in the Big 12. Dana Holgorsen was formerly at West Virginia and Kelvin Sampson previously won big at Oklahoma.
Central Florida will open the Sunshine State to the Big 12. It boasts a gigantic student enrollment of 70,000 and is known for playing quality football. Gus Malzahn led the Knights to a thrilling victory over Boise State in their opener last week.
The four won’t replace the brand power or money that Oklahoma and Texas brought to the conference, but they will bring enough new markets and competitive teams to help the Big 12 remain one of the nation’s best five leagues in both men’s basketball and football.
WHEN WILL BYU, CINCINNATI, HOUSTON AND UCF JOIN THE BIG 12?
But there are still plenty of questions to answer.
For starters, when can fans expect these four new schools to play their first football game under the Big 12’s flag? Also: Will Oklahoma and Texas still be in the conference when that happens?
That could be a delicate process for Bowlsby.
BYU should be able to join more easily than the other three schools, because it is not currently tethered to a football conference. But the Cougars will need to but their way out of several games before they can play a Big 12 schedule. They have already scheduled at least eight games as far out as 2026.
Backing out of those games should be easier than Cincinnati, Houston and UCF leaving their current home in the American Athletic Conference. All teams are required to pay an exit fee of $10 million and provide 27 months notice before leaving the ACC.
Most are hopeful that all four teams can join the Big 12 in time for the 2023-24 athletic year, 23 months from now. So Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will need to come to a compromise for that to happen. But there is precedent. Connecticut paid $17 million to the American to leave earlier when it shifted to the Big East in most sports and went independent in football.
WHAT ABOUT OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS?
The Longhorns and Sooners are scheduled to join the SEC in July 2025.
Publicly, everyone from those schools and the Big 12 keep saying they expect Oklahoma and Texas to remain in the Big 12 until then, when the league’s current TV rights deal expires. But history suggests both teams will leave earlier.
Big 12 expansion could help provide Oklahoma and Texas with enough wiggle room to negotiate an exit settlement. Both schools are required to pay an exit fee of $80 million and provide two years notice before they leave the Big 12. But the Big 12 would technically still retain their media rights. Perhaps a deal can be arranged for both parties to move on in 2023 now that the Big 12 has future plans of its own.
If four new schools join while Oklahoma and Texas are still around, the Big 12 will spend some time as a 14-team conference before returning to its mathematically correct 12-team membership.
If all six schools join new conferences at the same time, the Big 12 will simply go from 10 members to 12.
WILL THE BIG 12 BRING BACK DIVISIONS?
Big 12 expansion means the conference will no longer be able to use its round-robin schedule in future years.
Odds are good the league will move back to divisional play.
But there will be much discussion on the best way to divide 12 teams. A simple North/South split could work with BYU, Cincinnati, KU, K-State, Iowa State and West Virginia residing in the North while Baylor, Houston, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech and UCF go to the South.
The league could also prefer East/West or place the six remaining charter members in one division and the six expansion schools in another.
What’s the best solution? Big 12 leaders will begin searching for answers after they officially add four new teams to the conference.
