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It's Official! BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston Joining the Big 12

September 10, 2021
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STILLWATER – The Presidents and Chancellors of the Big 12 Conference’s eight remaining universities voted unanimously on Friday to invite and accept Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla; University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio; and University of Houston in Houston, Texas as future members of the conference. The Big 12 was looking to add members for the future after Texas and Oklahoma announced their future departure from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference in July. The meeting of the school presidents and chancellors was held by Zoom at 8 a.m. on Friday morning.

All four of the schools voted in by the Big 12 had meetings scheduled of their board of trustees or board of regents to officially accept the invitation by the Big 12.

With the other four power five conferences choosing not to expand further with conference realignment opened by the move of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC, either frozen by threat of legal action (SEC) or by choice as members of the new Alliance (ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-12) the Big 12 had no choice but to expand. The league’s commissioner Bob Bowlsby went on a personal search to find the four best candidates and had the advantage of the information gained in the conference’s search for new members in 2016.

Bowlsby did a quick tour of the schools and their campuses and met with his athletic directors and Presidents in the days after. This process moved really quick and by midweek of this week, the four schools had all petitioned the Big 12 for membership in the conference.

“Today’s vote solidifies the long-term trajectory of the Big 12 Conference,” stated Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “I applaud the efforts of our presidents, chancellors and athletics directors of our continuing members to expeditiously consider and take this action. The addition of these four fine institutions ensures the continued success of the Big 12 at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics competition.”

All four of the schools operate their athletic departments in a “power five school fashion” with BYU being the school most like the Big 12 schools in budget and revenue from athletics. The Utah school is also boosted by the large membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Houston is a former Southwest Conference member that is back building major athletic facilities and boosting its athletic budget.

Central Florida has a huge enrollment and has recent newly added new facilities.

Cincinnati is lacking some in the facility department but has a football team that has resided in the top 10 of the major polls the past two seasons and nearly knocked off Georgia last season in the Peach Bowl.

As an independent in football, BYU would have the first chance to join the Big 12 as an active participant and that could be as early as the 2022 season. Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston are all members of the American Athletic Conference and would be required to give 27-months’ notice and pay a $10-million exit penalty to the conference. The hope is those teams could be able to play in the 2023 season, but 2024 is more likely to be when they begin as active members.

Meanwhile, Texas and Oklahoma are still saying they will stay with the Grant of Rights and will remain in the Big 12 through the 2024-25 school year before joining the SEC. The Big 12 current television media rights contract concludes after that school year. It is possible the television partners and primarily Disney/ESPN could make contract offers that could influence conference movement. Money is always a strong persuasion. The Big 12 will be looking to recoup as much revenue as possible from the expected loss of having Texas and Oklahoma as members.

What does this mean for Oklahoma State? For now, Oklahoma State and the other remaining seven are committed to the new Big 12 set up. However, I do believe as the Big Ten and he Pac-12 near the negotiations on a new television and media right contract with the Big Ten in 2023 and the Pac-12 in 2024 just ahead of the Big 12 in 2025 that realignment could come bubbling back up with leagues looking for a few attractive new members. Oklahoma State will be one of those and could have decisions to make at that time. This is a time where schools have to look out for their best interest.

Quick look at new Big 12 members BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston

Brigham Young University - Provo, Utah

Enrollment: 33,517; Head Football Coach: Kalani Sitake; Stadium: LaVell Edwards Stadium (63,725); Record in the 2010s: 77-53 (44th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 714,000 (46th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $93.3 million; Colors: Blue and White; Mascot: Cosmo the Cougar

University of Central Florida – Orlando, Florida

Enrollment: 66,183; Head Football Coach: Gus Malzahn; Stadium: Bounce House (44,206); Record in the 2010s: 88-42 (16th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 566,000 (58th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $68.2-million (65th); Top Athletic Accomplishment: Named College Football National Champions in 2017 by Florida legislature, Orlando Sentinel, and Colley Matrix computer poll; Colors: Black and Gold; Mascot: Knightro the Knight.

University of Cincinnati – Cincinnati, Ohio

Enrollment: 46,798; Head Football Coach: Luke Fickell; Stadium: Nippert Stadium (40,000); Record in the 2010s: 79-49 (37th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 430,000 (64th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $30.2 million (77th); Top Athletic Accomplishment: Currently ranked in the top 10 in football polls; Colors: Red and Black; Mascot: Bearcat.

University of Houston – Houston, Texas

Enrollment: 35,000; Head Football Coach: Dana Holgorsen; Stadium: TDECU Stadium (40,000) Record in the 2010s: 80-48 (37th); Avg. TV Viewers per game Last Five Years: 689,000 (50th); Wall Street Est. Value of Football Program: $41.4 million (72nd); Top Athletic Accomplishment: Played in NCAA National Championship Basketball Games in 1983 and 1984; Colors: Scarlet and White; Mascot: Shasta the Cougar.

Discussion from...

It's Official! BYU, Cincinnati, UCF and Houston Joining the Big 12

7,130 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by CaliforniaCowboy
TUSKAPOKE
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Good! Do not wait around to let others shape BIG 12 destiny....start shaping it now even if PAC 12 or B1G or SEC conferences come knocking for new members (OSU) later. I would like to see even more aggressive outreach to other schools the PAC 12 may want to acquire and that is Boise and SDSU. Sink the PAC 12's expansion options. They did not want real football schools like OSU, KS St, TX Tch and TCU so sink them and become the #4 in the Power 5 line up. Look at Memphis and possibly USF for a full 16 team conference. All of this hinges on $$$$. So, we shall see......Teams in all four time zones....games from Thursday PM to Saturday night. BIG 12 games available for all time slots. GOODBYE SEWERNERS!!! GOODBYE SHORTHORN STEERS!!! GO POKES!!!
CaliforniaCowboy
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and access to all of the hot bed recruiting states, FL, TX and CA....

so.... this weekend....

#10 ISU over #9 Iowa
Western Carolina over #4 OU
Arkansas over #15 Texas
BYU over #21 Utah
Okie State over Tulsa
TCU over Cal
Houston over Rice

the rest better be automatic wins....

The PAC has a chance to make a strong statement against the B1G.... we'll see if they can
Orangeheart72
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I'm not sure we're not the 3rd best conference if BYU joins next year and OU and UT stick around another year. If the others join for the '23 season, I don't think it's impossible we're still the 3rd best conference and certainly possible we're the 4th best conference anyway, even if ESPN pays the OU/UT exit!
I'd feel pretty good about lining up our top 10 against the ACC and certainly the PAC. KU needs to get their football act together obviously so we don't have one "embarrassment" nationally in football. But what a basketball conference this is immediately!
I agree.....Big XII will be fine, so long OU/UT. Enjoy the SEC where some folks are equally resourced with you!
CaliforniaCowboy
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I'm not sure how scheduling would work if BYU were to start next year.

They might have some contracts to get out of.. but as far as conference games go.... we already play 9 conference games (more than the other conferences), so if we each give up a conference game and put BYU there, then it works out?) Like we don't play OU and instead play BYU, and then play the goons in the Conf Champ game?

If every team drops a conf game, then that's 10 games, but BYU would only need 8, so two teams???

No bedlam next year would be sweet... but I don't think Bowlsly has the backbone to do that to ESPN. He should definitely threaten them with cancelling that game.
CaliforniaCowboy
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they BYU press release says not next year....

The Cougars will participate in every sport sponsored by the Big 12 except equestrian, rowing and wrestling. The Big 12 sponsors every sport the Cougars compete in, except men's volleyball. All sports will begin Big 12 schedules in the 2023-24 athletic season, except for men's volleyball, which will continue to compete in the MPSF.

CaliforniaCowboy
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Houston GOLF....

YIPES!!

The men's golf program is one of the oldest sports played at the University of Houston, as it began in 1946 along with the football program. The team is one of the most successful college programs in history, with 16 team national championships and eight individual national championships. This makes the team the second-most successful team of all time, behind only Yale.


(OSU has 11 national titles)

72Cowboys
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How do you anticipate the New Big 12 will be subdivided?
North - South as in the past?
And which teams in each division?
CaliforniaCowboy
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72Cowboys said:

How do you anticipate the New Big 12 will be subdivided?
North - South as in the past?
And which teams in each division?
gawd I hope not.... I need to write to our AD and the Bowlsly to make sure that nonsense doesn't happen again.

that old big12 North/South alignment was nonsense, with the same boring outcomes every season.

We need 3-team pods, and the alignment of the pods needs to change annually. That way we're not always playing TCU for the division lead to play in the conf champ game.... with rotating pods, we get to mix it up annually, with whom we might end up in a div lead game, and if it rotates, then it give the media talking heads a reason to talk a lot about the conference, and the impacts of the current year's matchups.
pokeacola
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East/West
East: Cincy, WV, UCF, Houston, KU, ISU
West: BYU, OSU, TT, TCU, KSU, Baylor
CaliforniaCowboy
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pokeacola said:

East/West
East: Cincy, WV, UCF, Houston, KU, ISU
West: BYU, OSU, TT, TCU, KSU, Baylor
These are they types of alignments that we should try to avoid, because it locks us into annual travel to one school (BYU, for example) and only every other year to say a UCF.

There is no reason that we should have to travel to BYU annually forever (or home-n-home). Nothing against BYU, but it just gets stale, and it does not have to be so.

Like in the old Big12, we played TT every year.. but only played Nebraska every so often (for whatever silly reason). OU almost always played against KSU (north vs south), even though the North winner might have had a crapy season.

We would always be playing against BYU and TCU (for example) for the West championship, to play annually against the Cincy and UCF (East champion).... every year... when it does not have to be so.

There is no valid reason why the teams cannot and should not changed annually or every other year.
thetruth
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why do you people keep leaving out ut and ou? they're here until something changes.
CaliforniaCowboy
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We do not want to be like the others, who have the same 2 teams playing annually in their conf champ game, with an occasional random team squeaking in

It's always
Bama / UGA
tOSU / Wisconsin
Oregon / USC

BORING.

Why not 2 years of (home-n-home)
Division 1 (Cincy, WV, UCF) (KU, ISU Houston)
Division 2 (BYU, OSU, TT) (TCU, BU, KSU)

Then 2 years of
Division 1 (Cincy, WV, UCF) (TCU, BU, KSU)
Division 2 (KU, ISU Houston) (BYU, OSU, TT)

Then 2 years of
Division 1 (Cincy, WV, UCF) (BYU, OSU, TT)
Division 2 (KU, ISU Houston) (TCU, BU, KSU)

The media talking heads would be forced to talk about our conference, if for no other reason than to explain who is in which Division this time around.... but more likely because the eventual conference championship game could change radically with a change of lineup.

We do not have to be like the rest, and frankly that old N/S or E/W model doesn't work all that well.

Everybody's travel changes, so nobody is stuck with annual unwanted destinations, and there is plenty of time to prepare for changing travel costs.

These might not be the best 3-team pods, I just threw it together quickly without a lot of in-depth analysis.
NJAggie
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We don't even have to do divisions. We could just schedule 8 games each year with 3 off the schedule with 1 new joining and 1 old dropping off. Then still play #1 vs #2. Maybe have 1 team as a rival that you never lose.

That way you don't get locked in divisions, and you have an even distribution of games in Texas & Fla.
CaliforniaCowboy
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NJAggie said:

We don't even have to do divisions. We could just schedule 8 games each year with 3 off the schedule with 1 new joining and 1 old dropping off. Then still play #1 vs #2. Maybe have 1 team as a rival that you never lose.

That way you don't get locked in divisions, and you have an even distribution of games in Texas & Fla.
I like that too...

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