Report: BYU Among Four Leading Candidates For Big 12 Expansion
Sep 2, 2021, 8:13 PM
The Big 12 Conference exits the Spring Business Meetings with "a plan" for conference expansion. (Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Photo by Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – Big 12 expansion talks continue to heat up and BYU is in the center of it all.
The Athletic’s Max Olson and ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported that the Big 12 Conference is looking to expand by four. And the four teams they are targeting for expansion include Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and BYU.
Sources tell @CFBHeather and me that #Big12 expansion talks are focused on 4 leading candidates — #BYU, #UCF, #Cincinnati, #Houston. Process could accelerate in the season. BYU is at the top of the Big 12's list, per sources. @max_olson first reported the leading candidates.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) September 2, 2021
This news comes on the heels of the Big 12 Conference holding athletic director meetings earlier this week. The ADs in the Big 12 and Commissioner Bob Bowlsby met with their league TV partners from ESPN and FOX to look at the best ways to secure their “long-term future.”
Last month, The Athletic reported that BYU would be a program that would add value to the Big 12’s future TV deals. BYU, currently an Independent and has been on its own since 2011. The Cougars have their own television contract with ESPN. They are in the second year of their six-year deal with ESPN.
BYU is used to Big 12 expansion talks
BYU and the Big 12 have gone down this road before. In 2016, BYU was viewed as one of the top candidates for Big 12 expansion that ultimately never took place. BYU was also in the thick of things during expansion talks in 2010 and 2011. But the Cougars have never landed an invite.
The announcement from the Pac-12 last month to not expand in the near future has set the stage for the remaining Big 12 programs after Texas and Oklahoma leave for the SEC to band together and strengthen their situation.
Adding BYU, UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati would provide a quality football conference for the Big 12, and it would be a dynamite league in men’s and women’s basketball.
The ball is in the Big 12 corner. All four of these schools would likely love nothing more to be in this revamped Big 12 Conference.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
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