Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — In its expansion exploration, the Big 12 Conference has narrowed a list of possible additions to 12 schools, ESPN reports.
The conference currently has ten schools in the fold, after seeing Nebraska and Colorado leave for the Big Ten and Pac 12 respectively in 2010. Sources told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy and Jake Trotter that the league is considering the Air Force Academy, Brigham Young University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Cincinnati, Colorado State University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Houston, Rice University, the University of South Florida, Southern Methodist University, Temple University and Tulane University as potential additions.
Eight of the 12 candidates being considered are currently members of the American Athletic Conference, while two are members of the Mountain West Conference.
Among the schools eliminated from consideration, ESPN says, were Arkansas State University, Boise State University, East Carolina University, the University of New Mexico, Northern Illinois University, San Diego State University and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. It was not clear whether the University of Memphis made the cut.
The league hopes to make a decision on expansion by the time of its board of directors meeting in October. Before then, each of the schools still under consideration will make in-person presentations to league officials.
Sources told ESPN that the league is “becoming less and less likely” to expand from 10 teams all the way to 14, with an expansion to 12 teams — or remaining at 10 teams — more realistic.
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