Amid SEC buzz around Texas, OU, other Big 12 schools should be considering options, too

A week ago, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby was touting the terrifically competitive year the conference had just enjoyed, a span of prosperity highlighted by five NCAA championships. Although the league’s revenue distribution took a hit of about $4 1/2 million per school because of the pandemic, things could have been worse.

“If you’d have asked me last July 15 if that (revenue) is what we would get, I’d have said, ‘Where do I sign?’” Bowlsby said during Big 12 Media Days in Arlington, Texas.

A week later, everything looks different. On Wednesday, the Houston Chronicle reported that Texas and Oklahoma have inquired about joining the SEC. The schools did not deny the report’s veracity.

If the Longhorns and Sooners in fact wind up in the SEC, where does that leave the Big 12 and its eight remaining schools?

There are no solid answers to that question right now, because, frankly, until mid-week no one outside of a small circle at UT and OU knew about this. Certainly Bowlsby did not.

The Big 12 CEOs and athletic directors are scheduled to meet via a conference today at 5 p.m., to discuss the situation, Dennis Dodd of CBSSports reported.

Also, a Texas legislator, Jeff Leach, said he’s working on a law that would require legislative approval for the Longhorns to leave the conference.

“The lack of transparency by our flagship institution is wrong. Such a monumental economic and educational decision impacting the entire state must not be made in a bubble on the forty acres. Working on legislation requiring legislative approval for UT to bolt the BIG XII” Leach tweeted Thursday.

So, as was the case in 2011 and 2012, when the Big 12 defied extinction and remained in business after losing four member institutions and gaining two, guessing games become sport of their own.

Assuming the SEC votes for expansion, settlements can be made to the remaining Big 12 schools and Texas and Oklahoma surrender their networks, what would be the best option for the remaining programs — Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, TCU, Baylor and Texas Tech?

Staying together as an eight-team league or adding two or four members would maintain a conference footprint in the center of the country. That footprint has existed in some form since 1907.

But there are no brand replacements in college sports for Texas and Oklahoma. Standing pat or adding members from the American or Mountain West likely wouldn’t increase the conference’s market value.

When the Big 12 explored expansion in 2016, Central Florida, Houston, Colorado State and Air Force were among 11 schools considered by the league. Ultimately, at that time, anyway, the Big 12 chose to stand pat.

During the 2011-12 realignment, a gap was created within FBS that we know as the Power Five conferences: the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Pac-12 and Big 12. The others (American, Mountain West, Mid-American, Conference USA and Sun Belt) became known as the Group of Five, and fell behind economically.

A Big 12 without Texas or Oklahoma begs the question: Is the next alignment within the Power Five, and is reducing the Big 12’s clout the first step? If so, Big 12 programs can expect less revenue from media deals and postseason football.

But would the SEC growing to 16 schools force expansion of the Big Ten and ACC to 14 members, and Pac-12 to 12? If so, what pieces of the Big 12 could be of the greatest value to them?

Nothing makes much sense geographically, but the Kansas brand, as damaged as it by downtrodden football and the basketball program’s ongoing NCAA investigation, remains strong. And if a conference views expansion as a long-term relationship, the KU hoops issues are a short-term problem.

If the Big 12 had splintered more than a decade ago, Kansas was rumored as a possible invitee to the Big Ten and Pac-12. The ACC also was rumored to be interested in the Jayhawks.

Kansas State and Iowa State have football programs that regularly make it to bowls, and their home games are well attended. They join Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU as programs that have won or played for Big 12 football championships in the last decade. Would they, and perhaps West Virginia, have Power Five options?

The Big 12 endured the most uncertain weekend in its history in 2011. Colorado and Nebraska had left. Several other schools were considering a jump to the Pac-12. Then, the alternative that gained the most steam for the teams that remained — Kansas, Missouri, K-State, Iowa State and Baylor — was a merger with the Big East. At the time, that league included West Virginia, Pittsburgh and others.

But the Big 12 survived, and Big East football dissolved two years later.

Now, because of wandering eyes at Texas and Oklahoma, the remaining Big 12 schools could once again be combing the landscape for options of their own.

And perhaps college football’s Power Five will become the Power Four.