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Well this story seems like it’s ever changing and I feel that it won’t be fully resolved for quite sometime.
However, it does look like we might have at least hit a plateau of movement recently, so lets dive into that.
Going out of the Big 12 Conference is Texas A&M and Missouri, and coming in is TCU and West Virginia.
My initial reaction is that I think it works for all parties. All four wanted to be somewhere else then they currently were and as the dust settles, it seems like an even split for all involved.
However, I still don’t see the Big 12 as a stable conference. There is just not enough cohesiveness yet between the schools to believe that the situation is solved.
Throw in the fact that WVU and its former conference spouse, the Big East, are headed to what could be a messy litigated divorce, and the future looks even cloudier.
In fact, adding to that murky outlook is the fact that the conference’s future is currently held together by a six-year grant of rights pact, which to my knowledge hasn’t been signed.
That contract will barely last half a decade, which gives me little confidence that the remaining major schools won’t at least look around to other conferences in the near-distant future.
Too much conflict, selfishness and lack of leadership exists in the Big 12 for me to feel comfortable about its long-term viability, and adding TCU and WVU doesn’t change that.
But like any great conundrum, I guess only time will tell.
Brent Lager joined the Leavenworth Times in 2010 after a year and a half of covering high school sports for the Platte County Citizen. Before that, he previously worked for the Columbia Missourian as well as Cumulus Broadcasting in Columbia, Mo.
