Big 12 Has ‘No Interest’ in Poaching Schools From Pac-12: Report
In the last 24 hours we have seen the college football world turned on its head after USC and UCLA announced they would leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024.
The move leaves the Pac-12 conference shattered, and with seemingly little hope of rebuilding itself to former glory. In the “Shark Tank” business world of college football it’s eat or be eaten and the Big 12 is in perfect position to make additions to its numbers and bolster its legitimacy as college football heads towards the era of Super Conference.
However, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, one Big 12 official isn’t interested in such tomfoolery.
“For now, there is no interest from the Big 12 to take any Pac-12 schools. When a chance presented itself Thursday for the Big 12 board of directors to discuss these developments, one high-ranking Big 12 official said, ‘Why?'”
If the person who asked “why” is in a position to make decisions for the conference, then I have a legitimate question: Why are you in the position that you are?
We stand on the precipice of what could be the biggest landscape shift that college athletics has ever seen, and you can’t see the value in adding schools from a dying conference? The Big Ten and SEC are both now at 16 schools apiece for the future and threatening to get even larger, yet the Big 12 is satisfied to keep itself at 12 and hope that things work out?
That is the same kind of thinking that got them into the position that they are in now with Oklahoma and Texas leaving. Sure, adding four schools to help offset that loss will help, but let’s not pretend that the conference doesn’t lose the vast majority of its leverage when those two schools leave. Adding schools like Arizona, ASU, Utah, Colorado, or even Oregon and Washington would allow the Big 12 to broaden its market and get to 16 schools, helping it secure a future for itself.
One way or another, college football is heading towards bigger conferences and the Big 12 needs to decide whether it is in, or out.
