Report: Bob Bowlsby To Meet With Pac-12 Commissioner To Discuss Possible Conference Merger

STILLWATER – With Oklahoma and Texas headed to the SEC sometime in the near future, the Big 12 Conference and the rest of the eight remaining schools are scrambling to try and secure their futures. Whether that’s trying to keep the current league intact via merger, or possibly finding a new landing spot in a different conference.

Well, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is trying to be proactive in saving the Big 12 as it was reported Tuesday morning by Max Olson of The Athletic Bowlsby is set to meet with Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to discuss a scheduling alliance and a possible merger of the two conferences.

This news comes less than 24 hours after Bowlsby argued the case of the Big 12 and the eight remaining in front of a Texas Senate Committee on the Future of College Athletics on Monday.

“With the disruption, the economies of the eight remaining universities are jeopardized, particularly the three remaining schools in the State of Texas,” Bowlsby started. “The Perryman Report details the particularly negative impact that this departure will have, but it does not detail to make the points that others will make today regarding student recruiting, bond rating, long range planning, and research dollars. The innate dependencies that are present in college athletic conferences extend way beyond the playing fields. Mutual decisions are made that rely on years of history and relationships with many millions of dollars in the balance with respect to those three schools. Notwithstanding the obvious breach of trust the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in Austin have violated the very bylaws that they help to construct. With the approval of the board, the remaining members of the Big 12, I have notified both schools with what I believe to be a violation of that obligation.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the Pac-12 feels about a possible merger with the Big 12 based on the two religious-based institutions, Baylor and TCU, that would be a part of the deal. However, a scheduling alliance, and certainly a merger, would be mutually beneficial to both conferences.

The Pac-12 doesn’t come on the scene on college football Saturdays until 2:30 in the afternoon due to the West Coast time zone. If a merger were to happen, the Pac-12 would be on tv all day long with 11 a.m. CT kicks and the famed Pac-12 “after dark” football.

The Pac-12 held its annual media day last week and Commissioner Kliavkoff confirmed that possible realignment was at least on his radar.

“I think it’s an interesting opportunity. It’s under discussion, but nothing to announce today.”

Should a merger take place, it would create the first super-conference of 20 teams, four more than the SEC would have with Oklahoma and Texas. There’s also the news from last week of the American Athletic Conference trying to poach some, if not all the remaining Big 12 schools.

We’ve obviously got a long road ahead of us in regard to conference realignment and possible conference mergers, but at his induction ceremony into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, head coach Mike Gundy said he’s not worried about Oklahoma State.

“I have complete faith in our leadership, but Oklahoma State is going to be just fine. I’m not worried about Oklahoma State at all. Wherever the chips fall, we’ll be fine.”