Report: Big 12 exploring possible expansion

A subcommittee is meeting to reportedly explore adding new members to the Big 12. We’ll see if anyone actually gets added to the conference.

Well, it looks like the Big 12 is actually taking things seriously. The conference which should have gone out and added a few new members several seasons ago is reportedly looking at possibly expanding.

According to a tweet from ESPN’s Heather Dinich, a “four-person subcommittee” is meeting and will be discussion the possibility of expanding.

Dinich said that multiple sources confirmed the subcommittee was meeting.

This is incredibly good news for the Big 12 as the conference itself has been forced to fight for its life as well as for relevance on the national college football stage.

With the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns bound for the Southeastern Conference, the Big 12 is set to lose a lot of prestige and influence along with a lot of revenue. And so, the conference now has to seriously look at all of its options if it wants to stay afloat.

This is something the conference should have done years ago, but there’s no time like the present. Especially considering the Pac-12 just gifted the Big 12 a chance at having a future.

Will the Big 12 add new members and expand?

For whatever reason, the Pac-12 apparently thought it was a good idea to hold off expanding. Thursday, the Pac-12 announced that it would not be adding any new members any time soon. There just aren’t any plans for the folks out west to add new teams to their conference.

That means the Pac-12 won’t be picking up any stragglers from the Big 12 in the midst of conference realignment. While the decision seems odd and questionable, it’s a move that gives the Big 12 a chance to do what it really should have years ago: add new members.

Any ambitions of finding true replacements for the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners should be thrown away immediately. It’s just about impossible to replace a brand as lucrative as Texas’ or a team that routinely competes on the national level like Oklahoma.

But there are still plenty of good options available for the Big 12 to consider. The conference and its leadership just need to actually go out and get this done.