WICHITA, Kan. — Bob Bowlsby made something clear after the Big 12 welcomed BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF to its ranks last week.
The conference might not be done expanding.
"We're always going to be open to opportunities as they present themselves," the Big 12 commissioner said. "We're living in a fast-changing athletic environment ... and as targets of opportunity present themselves or as there are situations that dictate that we change composition, we'll be prepared to do those things."
Many took those comments as a sign that the best schools omitted from this round of conference realignment, such as Boise State and Memphis, will be on standby if the Big 12 looks to add more members in the near future. But at least one national college sports writer has suggested that Bowlsby might have bigger plans in mind.
Perhaps the Big 12 will look west and try to poach a few schools from the Pac-12.
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported on Thursday that Big 12 executives will monitor closely as the Pac-12 negotiates its new TV deal in 2024 when its current contract with ESPN and Fox expires. And if the Pac-12 can't secure a lucrative deal, "there is a feeling within the Big 12 some Pac-12 schools might be interested in joining."
What a turn of events that would be.
The Big 12 was down to just eight members after Oklahoma and Texas announced plans to leave for the SEC. Many thought the conference was on life support. Its remaining schools all hoped for a Pac-12 invite, but that league decided to form an alliance with the ACC and Big Ten rather than expand.
Since then, the Big 12 has since found stability with the addition of four schools that are expected to bring quality men's basketball, football and big media markets to the conference. Could the Big 12 take another step forward and raid schools from a power league?
Several dominoes will need to fall exactly right for that to happen, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.
The Pac-12 distributed $32 million to its members during the 2018-19 athletic year, a number that ranked ahead of only the ACC ($29 million) in terms of conference revenue. Closing the gap on the the SEC ($45 million) and the Big Ten ($55 million) is one of the main reasons why the Pac-12 recently hired George Kliavkoff as its new commissioner.
The Big 12 pulled in $37.7 million for each of its members in 2018-19, but that was with Oklahoma and Texas driving up the league's value. The conference will almost certainly earn less without those two flagship schools when it negotiates a new TV contract in 2025, but there is much debate on exactly how much.
For example, KU athletic director Travis Goff recently said the Jayhawks may be "significantly financially less secure" in the new Big 12 while K-State AD Gene Taylor has no worries about the Wildcats and said "I'm assuming we can stay pretty close to where we are."
In any case, Big 12 fans are now hoping the conference can flex its muscles at the negotiating table. If the Big 12 can secure a more lucrative TV contract than the Pac-12, it may assume the unfamiliar role as hunter during the next round of conference realignment.
How does a 16-team conference with a western wing of Arizona, Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Utah sound?
