Report: Big 12 to talk expansion with 17 schools

The Big 12 will conduct video conferences with 17 schools about possible expansion into the league.

The Big 12 will conduct video conferences with 17 schools about possible expansion into the league, reports ESPN's Brett McMurphy.

According to the report, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby will head up the video conferences.

Among the schools that will participate in the video conference include Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, South Florida, Central Florida, Connecticut, Memphis, Colorado State, Boise State, Tulane, Temple, East Carolina, SMU and New Mexico. Each of these schools at one time has expressed interest in joining the league. 

The Big 12 has been a 10-member league since Nebraska left for the Big 10 and Colorado left for the Pac-12 in 2011. Missouri and Texas A&M left for the SEC the following year. Those schools were eventually replaced in the Big 12 by TCU and West Virginia.

McMurphy reports that it is becoming "less and less likely" the league will expand to 14 teams and will probably end up with a 12-team conference, split into two six-team divisions.

– Scooby Axson