Big 12 commish touts 'plan' after exploring expansion options

The Big 12 has "a plan" regarding potential expansion, conference commissioner Brett Yormark said after the league's spring meeting Friday, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

Yormark added that the Big 12 is satisfied with its current membership but wouldn't rule out "all options and considerations at this point."

Attendees at the meeting only discussed different expansion scenarios and didn't vote on membership, Dinich reports.

Yormark also said his conference is interested in adding a member as a basketball-only participant.

"We do see the upside in basketball moving forward for all the right reasons," Yormark said. "We think it's undervalued, and there's a chance for us to double down as the No. 1 basketball conference in America, but football is the driver, and we all know that.

"As we think about the future and ways to create value, there is always that option to decouple basketball from football to see if there's further value we can create for the conference."

Basketball powerhouses UConn and Gonzaga were brought up as possible targets for future membership, per Dinich. However, presidents and chancellors reportedly want to wait for the announcement of the Pac-12's new broadcast deal before continuing expansion talks.

BYU, Houston, Cincinnati, and UCF are set to join the Big 12 ahead of the 2023 college football season. The conference will lose Texas and Oklahoma in 2024 when the schools join the SEC.

Yormark has prioritized making the Big 12 a "national conference" since being named commissioner Bob Bowlsby's successor in August. He announced Friday that each of the 10 conference members will split a record $440 million in revenue from 2022.

The commissioner added that the Big 12 is undergoing a "brand refresh" in 2024 that'll include different colors and applications but won't see a change to the conference's name or logo.