Big 12 to Officially Begin Taking Expansion Applications
By Chip Rouse
Here we go again, only this time the Big 12 appears to be serious about the prospects of expanding beyond the present 10 conference members.
On Tuesday, on the final day of 2016 Big 12 Football Media Days event in Dallas, the Big 12 Conference board of directors voted unanimously to have commissioner Bob Bowlsby begin seriously considering expansion candidates.
After previously taking the stance that the conference’s current structure of 10 members is just fine and that there were no immediate plans to expand the membership, in a somewhat surprising reversal, the board now appears to be more serious than ever about the idea of expansion.
And if the Big 12 does take formal action to expand in the future, it might not stop at two new members. It might consider going beyond 12 members and grow by four, which would increase the conference size to 14 schools.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren, who also serves as Big 12 board chairman, stopped short of saying the Big 12 will expand, telling reporters in a press briefing that this action “is a forward step, a positive step, (but is) not yet a decision.
“It shows momentum on the board to consider (expansion) as a possibility,” Boren said.
Boren went on to say that the board directed Bowlsby to begin evaluating schools that have proactively shown interest in becoming members of the Big 12.
Houston and Memphis are reported to be among those schools that have already approached the Big 12 about joining the conference. Others that have been talked about as prospective future members are BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Central Florida and South Florida. Boren did not single out any prospective schools in his comments.
Boren did say that the candidates would be evaluated on the basis of six criteria: strength of the athletic department, reputation, fan base, integrity, media market and academic standing.
Coach Bob Stoops was asked how he would like to see the divisions divided up if that is the way the Big 12 goes about determining the matchup for the Big 12 championship game in football, which is being reinstituted in 2017:
"“I have somewhat of an opinion, (but) I don’t want to express it,” the Sooner head coach said during Big 12 Media Days. “In the end, whatever is best for the viewership and the fans, I will be all for.”"