College football expansion suffered a big blow yesterday, with Texas staying put in the Big 12, but that doesn’t mean expansion will stop. The Pac 10 still needs a 12th, so that they can have a championship game, and don’t think that the Big Ten is done yet.
According to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News:
Faced with the dissolution of his conference, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe made Texas a counteroffer it couldn’t refuse. The Longhorns reportedly will receive about $22 million annually from the league’s new TV contract and will be allowed to form their own network, which would add another $3 million to $4 million annually to their coffers.
Once the Longhorns recommitted to the Big 12, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State did the same.
That stunning turn of events — the Big 12 appeared to be doomed when the weekend began — seemingly leaves the Pac-10 with only one viable option: Invite Utah as the 12th team, effective for the 2012 football season.