What Will Happen To The Big 12?

The Big 12 could be in real trouble. Also, the teams who are currently in the Big 12 are in bigger trouble. 

The Big 12 seems like that it is nearing the end of the road. With Oklahoma and Texas gone, most of the power of the league leaves with it. Yes, there are nice programs, three Texas teams, the defending NCAA tournament champion and a blue blood basketball program ... but nothing that wows the TV guys into paying anyone more money to put them on their networks. I mean, who is the biggest name ... football wise ... left? TCU? Iowa State? West Virginia? Baylor? Probably Oklahoma State. 

The league may only exist for a few more years for financial reasons. If Oklahoma and Texas stick around until the Grant of Rights expires in four years, then the league's members would want to milk that for all they could. If those two bolt and have to pony up money back to the Big 12, those eight abandoned schools will want to still band together to cash in. Add to the fact that they would have to pay back money if they left and you'll likely get a couple more years of a tattered league.

Or this could look like the last time Texas left a conference. When they bolted the SWC for the Big 12 in the mid-1990s, the SWC tore apart as everyone ran for cover. This will eventually be what happens to the Big 12. At some point, everyone will have to look out for themselves and make tough decisions about their future. The Big 12 isn't going to purge the AAC for schools -- in fact the inverse may actually happen. Why would Cincinnati jump to a Big 12 that shunned them just a couple years ago and inherit a league that is standing on shaky ground? The AAC may be better suited to absorb several ... if not all ... the Big 12 schools.  Possibly the Pac-12 could look at Oklahoma State and the three Texas schools (TCU, Baylor, Texas Tech). Maybe the ACC does too, or even reconsiders West Virginia's pleas to join up. However, this is a time of huge moves and adding one or all the remaining eight Big 12 schools isn't a huge move. 

It was only a matter of time that the Big 12 folded. For the last decade, Texas and Oklahoma had been threatening to bolt even as the league was giving them more and more power and money. Now it's happening.