Pac-12 Expansion: Conference Would Become Nation's Best with Texas and Oklahoma

Just a couple days after Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said the conference wasn't actively looking to expand, a report from ESPN says they are in talks to add Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State to form a super conference.

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The Pac-12 is working on a deal to bring Big 12 schools Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech to the conference, according to a report by The Austin American-Statesman. The Statesman cited a source close to the situation that stressed the deal is not yet complete, but that talks were "heating up."

The proposed deal would allow Texas to keep ESPN's Longhorn Network, though The Statesman reports the network would have to add other Pac-12 programming to the network.

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As groundbreaking as the first part of that statement would be, the second half is just as important. The Longhorn Network, which is a part of the ESPN family, allows Texas to bring in extra revenue and is a huge recruiting tool for the school.

Texas officials are discussing how they would have to split television time on the network, but those talks aren't expected to hold back any potential agreements.

The addition of Texas and Oklahoma alone would be huge for the Pac-12 in their quest to become the top conference in America. However, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State can hold their own as well and have excelled in multiple sports in recent years.

Whereas the Big East and ACC have dominated in basketball in recent seasons, they don't hold that same weight in football. The same can be said, only in reverse, for the SEC, which is the most highly-touted football conference in the nation.

The Pac-12, or Pac-16 as it would be called with four new schools, has the potential to be a powerhouse in both football and basketball. Also, by forming the first of several expected super conferences, they would be in line for huge revenues as well.

It's unclear if these most recent negotiations really popped up over the past 24 hours like Scott's comments on ESPN yesterday would make it seem, but either way the Pac-12 would be smart to lock up these four schools as soon as possible.

The move would give the new Pac-16 the distinction of becoming the best all-around conference in the nation. At least until other super conferences are formed.