That might be enough to temporarily keep the band together but it doesn't do anything to secure the conference's future in 2026 and beyond.

With a rights deal signed through 2025 that would be split eight ways with Texas and Oklahoma projected to leave early for the SEC, current Big 12 members are due for increased annual payouts for the next several years. These Group of Five programs may have long wanted a seat at the Power Five table, but would this reworked Big 12 really be any more appealing as a permanent destination than the American, especially with a reworked College Football Playoff format providing greater opportunity to teams outside the Power Five umbrella?īut there's an argument for the Big 12 standing pat for the immediate future. That's if the Big 12 can even entice these teams from the American. But where, who, when? To start with, there's Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston, SMU and South Florida from the American, which would expand the Big 12's map and might make the league slightly more appealing to potential broadcast partners. The conference is no longer viable as a national contender without Texas and Oklahoma, which has left a roster of eight teams - Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia - with nearly nonexistent coast-to-coast appeal and a worryingly dire future when it comes to negotiations for the next grants of media rights agreement.Įxpansion is the key to the league's long-term survival.

Big 12 conference adds four new members