Thanks to ESPN, we now know the specifics of the upcoming Big 12 expansion, and it looks like a lot of teams are going to be left behind.
Brett McMurphy is reporting that the conference is only likely to expand to 12 teams — not 14 — and that they have already scheduled meeting with 17 schools to compete for those two expansion spots.
Big 12 will hold video conferences w/17 schools; Big 12 expanding by 4 “less & less likely,” sources told @ESPN https://t.co/KwGgQFIza5
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) August 12, 2016
According to McMurphy, those 17 teams include 14 known names: Houston, Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF, South Florida, BYU, UConn, Temple, Tulane, New Mexico, SMU, Boise State, East Carolina, and Colorado State.
As of right now, Houston is considered the heavy-favorite to get at least one of the spots that the Big 12 is offering. The second spot is likely to come down to a four teams: Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF, and BYU. If you consider Houston as a shoo-in, then it is probable that the Big 12 could value media-market with their next team, which could give UCF and Cincinnati a significant advantage over others.
The conference hopes to have a decision on expansion in October. If the decision in indeed made by October, then the league would probably start playing with 12 teams by the 2018 season.
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