According to the Dude of WV, Big 5 Autonomy Ends Expansion.
For the Big 12 it means no expansion. The conference is dead-set against expanding if the additions do not add to the television pot.
I think that’s a huge mistake on the Big 12’s part but you can’t argue with their logic. Right now there isn’t an expansion candidate available that can satisfy the plethora of metrics necessary to justify expansion.
A few are close. A few are tantalizing close and only need a track-record of success and few more points in the college football “Q score” to be worthy of inclusion.
Recently a Big 12 official told me that the conference was prepared to offer BYU and the UCF Knights membership in the conference if they were forced to meet the NCAA’s minimum number of members (12) for a championship game.
He told me that Bowlsby believed the details with BYU could be worked out and that UCF was by far the next best candidate available.
That won’t happen now – at least for a while. The trick for BYU and UCF will be in finding the money to compete with schools from the Big 5 for recruits and visibility.
It’s not hard to see BYU keeping pace. The Cougars have a contract with ESPN and their independent status will make them an attractive option for scheduling.
UCF will likely need it's alumni and fans to make up the difference to keep the Knight's program moving forward.
I'm told the Knights will be vetted again in 2020 and if the Knights can continue their success and push themselves over the top in terms of measurable they may just get their ticket punched into the Big 12 when the new television deal is due.
http://dudeofwv.blogspot.com/2014/04/big-5-autonomy-ends-expansion.html
