Conference Realignment: BYU Should Be in No Rush to Join Big 12

A week ago this time, it was looking like the Big 12 was on the verge of collapse.

However, ever since the Pac-12 announced on Tuesday night that it wouldn't be expanding, suddenly the Big 12 is back in business—or at least back in the business of getting back in business.

No matter how you want to spin it, progress is being made toward keeping the Big 12 together. A source told ESPN on Wednesday that the conference is "moving toward stabilization," and a report came out from The Kansas City Star on Wednesday night that commissioner Dan Beebe is preparing to flee his post. Because that was one of the demands of the University of Oklahoma (which were outlined by The Oklahoman), it seems that progress is indeed being made in terms of making the Big 12 more stable.

At some point, though, the Big 12 is going to have to replenish its ranks. It lost Nebraska to the Big Ten, Colorado to the Pac-12 and will soon lose Texas A&M to the SEC. When that happens, the Big 12 will have just nine members.

The Big 12 knows this, of course, and that's why it reached out to BYU not too long ago.

This came to light in a report from The Salt Lake Tribune in early September, though it was and still is unclear how far the Big 12 and BYU took their discussions.

Now that the Big 12 is back on the right track, it's easy to speculate that the Big 12 will reach out to BYU again at some point in the near future. If and when that day comes, BYU will and definitely should listen. However, whatever the university does, the last thing it should want to do is make a beeline for the Big 12.

The primary reason for this is that BYU has it pretty good as a football independent at the moment. Texas has a deal with ESPN, and so does BYU, as it agreed to an eight-year deal with the worldwide leader last year. It also has a six-game series worked out with fellow independent Notre Dame, which will bring in a not insignificant amount of cash.

The question, as it always is, will be whether or not the Big 12 can offer BYU more cash. That's something that didn't seem to be part of their initial discussions, the main selling point of which was the attraction of belonging to a conference with an automatic BCS bid.

The talks also included the utilization of BYU's own television network, BYUtv. That's where things get a little tricky.

The biggest issue in the Big 12 right now is one of revenue sharing, particularly as it pertains to Texas' Longhorn Network, which was established via a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN. Oklahoma wants Texas to share revenue from the Longhorn Network, which is something Texas doesn't want to do.

Given the amount of strife over the Longhorn Network, it's hard to see how BYUtv would fit into the picture without drawing similar attention.

However, that's just the thing: Nobody really knows how the Big 12 is going to situate itself from within before looking for new members.

So, right now, the only thing that should be on BYU's mind is standing pat. Joining the Big 12 could end up being the best-case scenario, but the conference must first prove that the grass is greener on its side.