Seems like only last week we celebrated the five-year anniversary of the extremely silly conference realignment era. It was only last week. Now look at us, reading quotes by University of Oklahoma President David Boren on how the Big 12 should expand from 10 teams back to 12.
Oklahoma president: I like the Big 12 being 12 teams, rather than 10
Fans in Boise State, BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and a few other spots are listening.
The Big 12, you’ll recall, lost a horde of programs during the realignment gold rush and fortified by bringing on TCU and West Virginia. Its official position since then has been to deny over and over that it’s interested in expanding. Boren represents just one member, but an important member.
Ten teams is a nice number that allows round-robin scheduling and keeps a lean number of mouths to feed, but it also means the conference can’t have its own league championship game under current (and possibly changing) NCAA rules. That lack of a 13th game helped keep Baylor and TCU out of the first College Football Playoff, according to Playoff chair Jeff Long in December:
Boren on Big 12: "I'm an advocate of living up to our name. I was an advocate of it when we saw Louisville go other places and other things"
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) June 24, 2015 Boren: "I like being 12 rather than 10. I like that as long-range stability for the conference. Is it urgent? No."
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) June 24, 2015 Boren on Big 12 adding 2: "We should if we can find the right partners... Something we should strive for while we have the time, stability."
— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) June 24, 2015 Who would get the callup? There is not an official memo that has been lifted from a fax machine, but the same list has been thrown around for years now by just about everybody: Boise State, BYU, Cincinnati, UCF, and what have you.
BYU seems like a very good bet to get the nod, and pairing Cincy with West Virginia for some sort of reasonable continuity makes for another popular option.
Another wrinkle from Boren:
Boren claims everyone would make the same TV money if B12 expanded. This is opposite of what other conf. leaders have pic.twitter.com/AhBY5BdkG2
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) June 24, 2015 Bowlsby confirms pro rata clause in TV contracts would match shares if league expands. But revenue from NCAA, CFP would be split more ways.
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) June 25, 2015 See More:
