The Big 12 completed its work Friday by adding West Virginia to become its easternmost member, joining
Texas,
Texas Tech,
Oklahoma,
Oklahoma State,
Kansas,
Kansas State,
Baylor,
TCU and
Iowa State.
The Big 12 said it expects to have 10 schools for the 2012-13 season, listing West Virginia but not Missouri, which is expected to complete its move to the SEC any day now.
“I wouldn’t say that there won’t be further expansion,” interim Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas said on a conference call Friday evening. “But our mission was … to move forward with 10 teams at this point. That doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be further consideration. But right now, we’ve got our house in order. We’ve got everybody signed up. We’re looking forward to a very aggressive conference.”
Ames, Iowa, is the closest Big 12 campus to Morgantown, W.Va., at 870 miles away, but that hardly matters. The Mountaineers bring a football program that has consistently been ranked in the Top 25 in recent years, and that’s what counts most when it comes time to sell TV rights.
In April, the conference signed a 13-year TV deal with Fox worth $1.17 billion that kicks in next year and was based upon the league having 10 members.
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