Add eight schools and you have 16 in a Power Five Conference
With today’s announcement that the PAC 12 is not expanding, the Big Twelve needs to expand from eight teams to sixteen, now and not any day later.
Offers to the following schools to join the Big Twelve would keep the conference a Power Five one in college football and make it viable for it’s long term future. The schools are:
University of Central Florida
Brigham Young University
Boise State University
The University of Cincinnati
Houston University
Air Force Academy
Naval Academy
U.S. Military Academy
Yes, adding eight teams brings a 16 team Big Twelve to be the Big Sixteen. The league would be attractive in all sections of the country, allowing at media package that would be a national in scope. Yes, the dollars per school would not match what the Big Twelve members are taking in today but so what? That is past history.
By adding the military academies and BYU you now have four “national” brands to add to the conference. With Central Florida, a school with 77,000 student and a humongous alumni base and a new football complex, the State of Florida becomes a juicy recruiting ground for the conference members and not just the Knights. Cincinnati give another force on the East Coast, a program that is being more powerful as of it’s new found football image. The basketball at Cincy is not too bad either. Boise State already has a solid football brand and would enhance this new association of schools.
Army and Navy game anyone? Teams in every time zone allowing to have games at all times Saturday? A power league in other sports?
Those days of a conference with OU and UT are over Bob Bowlsby. Cut wood and get YOUR conference in a strong position, NOW!
