Big 12 Will Not Expand Which Should Surprise Nobody

The Big 12 decided against expansion on Monday afternoon in Dallas. This surprised nobody. I wrote three weeks ago about how I think the conference is just playing chicken with ESPN and FOX, and it has become clear that that is probably the case.

Filed to ESPN. No expansion. No candidate could generate supermajority.

— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) October 17, 2016

Source: Status quo in the Big 12. No members added. League still discussing adding more TV revenue from ESPN and Fox.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 17, 2016

“We first took up the question of whether or not the conference should expand at this time, whether it should remain an active agenda item for the board of directors,” said OU president David Boren. “We decided after a very thorough discussion that we would remain at 10 members. We committed ourselves to that proposition.

“I would say that as we look at the whole outcome of this meeting, it was a very, very positive meeting in terms of expressing the cohesion of this conference and the unity of this conference on this issue.”

So now … nothing. The Big 12 probably makes a few more dollars and we all wait for its inevitable demise over the next decade (or sooner). No expansion candidates out there — not BYU, not Houston and definitely not anyone else — will change that.

The thing to watch for OSU fans is whether OU and Texas jump ship earlier than 2025 when the TV contracts are up. Does OU head west where the Pac-12 is not making more money than the Big 12? Does it try to get to the SEC to make a very crowded 16-team league (if OSU came with it)? Does Texas make a play on the Big 10?

I’m confident in a few things here.

1. The Big 12 is dead — Maybe not next year. Maybe not the year after that. Maybe not in five years. But it will be a slow, painful death.
2. The Big 12 will make a lot of money on its death bed — $30 million per team last year, much more in the years to come (with the Big 12 title game reinstated)
3.  Oklahoma State is tied in politically to whatever happens to OU — This is a good thing (obviously).

So who knows what will happen in the short-term (or long-term) future. I’ve loved playing in the Big 12 but am looking forward to whatever change is out there over the next decade. Also, it’s a shame nobody got to deliver these definitely-real-and-a-little-too-truthful welcome notes.

EXCLUSIVE: Big 12 conference note to today's new members. pic.twitter.com/jx5mpDinje

— Ted Harrison (@tedvid) October 17, 2016