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Message: [QUOTE="jostar1, post: 1774611, member: 1737"] [B][SIZE=4]Mailbag: Why the Big 12 might not expand after all[/SIZE][/B] [SIZE=4]By [URL='http://www.foxsports.com/writer/stewart-mandel']Stewart Mandel[/URL] [URL='https://twitter.com/slmandel'] @slmandel [/URL] Aug 17, 2016 at 9:47a ET [/SIZE] [SIZE=4]Stewart: I live in Houston and have a few contacts who are very close with UH athletics. They believe Big 12 expansion talk is in fact a cover-up designed to take media attention off the Baylor scandal. They are convinced as soon as the season gets here and either [URL='http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/texas-longhorns-team']Texas[/URL] beats Notre Dame, or [URL='http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/tcu-horned-frogs-team']TCU[/URL] beats Arkansas, or Oklahoma beats Ohio State, they’ll announce they've found it best to stick with 10. [I]-- Mark in Houston[/I] [I][/I] I don’t know about the conspiracy theory (though anything’s possible in realignment), but there does remain a very real possibility – about 40 percent, if not higher – that the conference will eventually make that very announcement. There are several reasons why. First of all, nearly a month after the initial announcement about entertaining expansion candidates, I’ve still yet to hear any real enthusiasm or tangible reasoning from within the conference as to why they would do this. The Big 12 presidents, in their July 19 meeting, clearly heard something from their consultants to convince them they could no longer sit put, but with distance they may start realizing the negatives outweigh the positives. Speaking of which, it’s no secret the league’s television partners want nothing to do with expansion. They’re obligated to pay whomever the conference adds, but they’d rather not. I could see a scenario where this whole thing ends with the Big 12 squeezing a little more out of ESPN and FOX in exchange for staying at 10 teams. And finally, whether they realized it or not, this public bakeoff the presidents touched off among the various contenders is not healthy for anyone. Schools lobbying politicians and engaging in social media campaigns – all the while still competing in their current conferences – is creating tremendous pressure on all involved. If, in fact, this ends with the Big 12 presidents picking, say, BYU and Cincinnati, there will be incredible anger and bitterness from Houston, Memphis and the like. People may lose their jobs over it. [/SIZE] Of course, there will be unified anger and bitterness if it turns out this whole thing was a charade and the league isn’t expanding at all. But of course hurt feelings are inevitable when it comes to conference realignment. [URL='http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/story/mailbag-why-the-big-12-might-not-expand-after-all-081716']Mailbag: Why the Big 12 might not expand after all[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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