Dennis Dodd @dennisdoddcbs · 1h1 hour ago
Filed to CBS Sports re: expansion. The teams don’t matter in B12 expansion, the math does.
Big 12 expansion now alive, well and likely after being presumed dead
From the story:
A bang-up presentation by Big 12 television consultants Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures and Navigate Research changed hearts and minds in a conference that had indicated expansion was all but dead.
For now, the usual suspects have renewed hope -- BYU, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Houston, Memphis, UCF and UConn. An educated guess on the top two at this point?
BYU and an American Athletic Conference team.
What could emerge is a bidding war to see who will take
less. Any new members would be phased in to the Big 12, taking something less than a full revenue share for a period of years.
Bowlsby added that football-only members are possible but not likely.
"There's several teams in the AAC and Mountain West that were BCS teams just five years ago," Bowlsby said. "Those are just monickers."
He was referring to the likes of Boise State, Cincinnati, UCF and UConn, which either went to BCS bowls and/or were in previous BCS automatic qualifier conferences.
With expansion, Big 12 football almost assuredly gets worse. It doesn't care.