Adding Colorado doesn't fix the Big 12's problem

The Big 12 keeps getting bigger but not necessarily better. 

Colorado will join the conference in 2024, following the leaps made by BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF this offseason. 

Those gains hardly make up for the major losses of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024, creating a major problem for the conference.

While it’s expanding its national footprint, it’s shrinking its prestige in the college football world. A clear demarcation point has formed between the conferences, with the SEC and Big Ten towering over everything else. 

Colorado, for all the buzz it's received with head coach Deion Sanders, stinks. The program has been lousy for nearly two decades. The Buffaloes were 1-11 last season and have only two winning seasons since 2006, one of which was the wonky pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign when they finished 4-2.

The rest of the Pac-12 should be fuming that its worst program is cashing in before everyone else.

The Athletic's Stewart Mandel drove the point home by noting Colorado will receive the full revenue from the next Big 12 media rights deal after a stipulation in the conference’s contract with ESPN states the network will increase the payout for every “Power 5” program added.