The Big 12 Should Become College Sports First Open League

    In my opinion, the Big 12 Conference should blossom into a super conference.

   With the addition of Colorado to the Big 12 in 2024, the conference will have thirteen schools. Rather than stopping with the addition of one more, either a Four Corners school like Utah or one of the Arizonas, I'd like them to keep going, to push towards building a revolutionary open league. 

      I've been intrigued with the concept of sports leagues that promote and relegate teams that are on the fence, and promotion and relegation are the key to this suggestion for the Big 12. With my proposal, the top performing programs would be in the upper tier with the best twelve teams from the previous season. The schools that round out the rest of this uber conference would battle it out in the contender tier with the top two schools moving up with the best, taking the spots of the teams finishing in eleventh and twelfth place. Of course, those programs would drop down and become contenders.

    Even if Oregon and Washington hook up with the Big Ten, the remaining schools of the PAC 12 would fit great into my envisioned Big 12 super conference. And I'd even recommend taking a hard look at an alliance with the Mountain West Conference since those schools are primed and ready to show off their programs. With those twelve schools in the mix with any comers from the PAC 12, it could be a three-tiered mega league. But of course, the top tier of the Big 12 would be the top twelve teams, adding noteworthy meaning to the league's brand.

    Most will concur that branding and TV deals are important, with ratings being key to the television money. In this fan's opinion, people would be dialed into their favorite sport framed within something a bit different. This uber conference, with twenty to thirty teams in two or three tiers, going at it until the end of the season, would grab attention. And along with being special, it would be historic.

    Not only would us sports fans be following to see who claims the Big 12 Championship, what program progresses to the year-end national playoffs, we'd be tuned into the unique drama of who moves up or drops down. And worth noting, this pro/rel element would help the Big 12 overcome the time zone issue that keeps the East Coast and Midwest folks from staying tuned in after 10 or 11 PM EST on Saturday nights in the fall.

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