Does the Pac-12’s expansion decision help the Big 12?

The Pac-12 has chosen not to expand. What does that mean for the Big 12 and its remaining members?

Thursday afternoon, the Pac-12 released a statement announcing its decision regarding possible conference expansion. According to the statement, the Pac-12 and its members have decided not to add any new members to the conference at this time.

So, with the Pac-12 making the decision to stay at a dozen members, that means the conference won’t be poaching any remaining Big 12 members any time soon. Unless something weird or unexpected happens, that is.

While that may be potentially bad news for the eight remaining individual members of the Big 12, it could potentially be good news for the conference as a whole.

Assuming the conference and its leaders plays their cards right, that is.

The conference should use this opportunity to seek out new members to add to its conference. Rather than simply letting the departure of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns lead to the collapse of this conference, the Big 12 might be able to find some new members and add some stability.

Could the Pac-12’s decision not to expand be beneficial for the Big 12?

Unfortunately for the Big 12, the outlook for its future still seems bleak. Even though the Pac-12 has announced that it won’t be picking up any of the remaining Big 12 members, that doesn’t mean the conference is safe here.

The Big Ten, ACC, and AAC are all still out there and just because the Pac-12 isn’t adding any new members doesn’t mean these other three conferences won’t want to expand. Given how quickly things are changing in the world of college football, who knows what those three will want to do. And given how the Big 12 has seemingly constantly existed in a state of turmoil, it seems reasonable to think that the other eight institutions might be willing to look around.

At this point, unless something drastic happens, it seems like the best course of action is for this conference to seek out some possible new members.

There’s no way this conference could ever truly replace the Longhorns or Sooners, but there are some exciting options available out there. The Big 12 just needs to make the decision to protect itself and expand before it’s too late.