https://sports.yahoo.com/pac-12-comm...205855947.html
I can see them poaching Texas Tech and Oklahoma State but they may also decide they don't need to change. Only two colleges in the Pacific and Mountain time zones have any football pizazz who are not already in the Pac 12 - BYU and Boise State. Neither has any chance. The Pac has already made clear they won't allow a Mormon school to join while Boise State is like a community college with a top football program attached. The Pac might also look at Nevada or UNLV but they both come with problems.We'll know fairly soon if the Pac-12 is interested in adding teams or not.
Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an interview published Thursday that the conference will decide if it's expanding "in the next couple of weeks." The Big 12 — which currently has eight remaining teams after the impending departures of Oklahoma and Texas — is the only Power Five conference with fewer schools.
In response to a question about conference realignment, Kliavkoff said the conference has had "initial meetings" with schools interested in joining the conference. He then said the conference would be making its decision regarding expansion within weeks, not months.
Therefore the only real choice if they want to expand is to add some schools from the Central time zone or not expand at all. Taking two or more teams from the eight schools left from the Big XII might also collapse that conference which will close the Power 5 to the Power 4, which is a win for the Pac-12.
The Big XII schools need to survive through their current tv contract which ends in 2025. If they do, Texas and Oklahoma will have to keep paying off the other Big XII schools, as would any other defectors. Plus, they would keep getting paid their shares of the current tv deals. If I were one of the remaining Big XII schools, I'd offer the entire AAC (American Athletic Conference) to merge with what's left, making them a conference of 19 teams. Not to worry. There might be defectors to the Pac-12, ACC or Big 10 but the merged 19-school conference can absorb the losses and still remain a Power 5 conference until 2025.
My guess is that the Pac-12 will ultimately decide not to expand however they risk losing USC if they show no interest in improving. USC feels like they are being held down by a conference that lacks national merit although the Trojans should consistently win their conference if they demand better treatment, much like Texas that barks a lot but doesn't produce championships when asked why anyone should listen to them.