REPORT: Big 12 Could Expand as Early as Next Week

Bob Bowlsby making some moves to speed up conference realignment.

Once Oklahoma and Texas announced their intentions to depart the Big 12 for the SEC, many thought the Big 12 Conference would not be able to survive. However, the league is making a strong push to expand by adding four schools.

Those four schools? BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida. According to a report from Pat Forde and Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, the four schools are expected to apply for membership next week and could be approved as early as September 10th when the Big 12 presidents meet.

As stated in the report, UCF, Houston, and Cincinnati are required to give a 27-month notice to the American Athletic Conference and must pay an exit fee of $10 million to leave the conference. BYU, an independent, will have a much easier transition to the Big 12 considering they aren't members of another conference at the moment. However, their future football schedules will have to be re-worked which could be problematic to a certain extent.

If approved, all four schools should be members of the Big 12 Conference by 2024.

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