DALLAS, Texas — Big 12 expansion gathered momentum Tuesday when the league’s board of directors directed Commissioner Bob Bowlsby “to actively evaluate” potential new members.
That request came just hours after ACC and ESPN announced partnership plans to launch a network by 2019.
Schools such as BYU, Cincinnati and Houston appear to be frontrunners, while Memphis, UConn, Central Florida, South Florida and Boise State could factor into Bowlsby’s appraisals. Based on the current TV contracts, the Big 12 could add up to four schools without affecting the per-school payout.
“We’ve been contacted by a number of institutions, and I imagine after this news breaks we’ll be contacted by them again,” he said.
Big 12 presidents who have been split on expansion the past four years agreed unanimously Tuesday to take what the commissioner labelled an “exploratory step.”
Oklahoma president David Boren, who famously contended the Big 12 was “psychologically disadvantaged” by having only 10 members, suggested last month the push for expansion had cooled once the league announced plans to resurrect a football championship game in 2017.
On whether fresh news of an ACC network played a role in Big 12’s vote to evaluate expansion, Boren said, “Of course. … It indicates we live in a fast-changing world.”
Sources said the Big 12 has been leaning toward divisional play next season, and Bowlsby didn’t dismiss the notion of members being added by 2017.
While he encouraged presidents and chancellors to expand, Bowlsby said the move “certainly wasn’t a final step, but it was a progessive step.”
West Virginia president Gordon Gee had been a public proponent of expanding, especially with regard to finding an East Coast travel partner for his school.