The Big 12 presidents will consider in the coming weeks whether the league should expand, leaving the American Athletic Conference on guard for the possibility of one or more defections.
“We always have plans for contingencies that might arise,” American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco told the AP on May 3.
“It’s no secret that there could be more realignment. We discuss this a bit with our membership, but mainly to focus on the cohesion of the conference. We ask people to respect the membership. Because whatever happens, this is going to be a good, strong conference regardless.”
Big 12 athletic directors met in Phoenix last week. The 10-team conference continues to ponder whether adding two more members, splitting into divisions and playing a football championship game will help the league increase both revenue and its chances to place a team in the College Football Playoff.
The Big 12 did not have either of its co-champions (Baylor and TCU) in the first playoff in 2014, but league champ Oklahoma reached the national semifinals last season.
At the meetings in Phoenix, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said a research firm presented data to the conference that showed switching to a 12-team, two-division format, with eight conference games and a title game, would give the league about a 4 percent better chance to put a team in the playoff.
Ultimately, the decision will be made at the presidential level of each school, with plenty of input from athletic directors and Bowlsby.
The next Big 12 meetings start May 31 in Dallas and will include the university presidents and chancellors.
There are no obvious matches for the conference if it does decide to expand, but most of the best candidates reside in the American.
Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, SMU, South Florida, Central Florida and Connecticut can all claim to bring either new TV markets or growing athletic programs — or both — to the Big 12. While officials at all those schools are diligent about publicly pledging allegiance to the American, behind the scenes they are positioning for a promotion to the Power Five.
The American is three years old, having reinvented itself after massive realignment tore apart the Big East.
Aresco would not say where the conference could go for replacement schools, but Conference USA is where it found many of its new members following the mass departures.