Big 12 to consider BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, Houston for expansion?

It was learned last week that a Big 12 subcommittee comprised of Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades, Iowa State president Wendy Wintersteen, and Kansas chancellor Douglas A. Girod had discussed how conference members should move forward after Texas and Oklahoma confirmed their intentions to defect to the SEC in the summer of 2025. 

Hocutt said at that time there was "nothing imminent" regarding the conference adding institutions, but ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich reported Thursday the Big 12 could extend formal invitations during the upcoming football season to any of four potential candidates. 

While BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston are all mentioned, BYU is named as the favorite because it's an FBS independent that has other programs competing in the West Coast Conference. The other three schools would have to notify the American Athletic Conference of their plans to depart for the Big 12 at least 27 months ahead of time and also pay exit fees of $10 million each. 

Eight of 10 current Big 12 members, including Texas and Oklahoma, must approve of any school joining the conference. As of early September, Texas and Oklahoma are reportedly committed to staying in the league through the end of June 2025, when their grant of rights agreement expires. 

The Pac-12 officially announced last week it is not pursuing "expansion of our membership at this time."