DALLAS — The Big 12′s new look for 2023 will also include a refreshed schedule format.
The conference is targeting a nine-game football schedule without divisions for next year and 2024, when the Big 12 will expand to 14 schools.
A conference source with knowledge of the scheduling discussions confirmed Friday that the proposed Big 12 schedule is the likely candidate, although nothing is yet official. The source indicated that all the plans are moving in the direction of the nine-game conference schedule.
The schedule change comes with the Big 12 poised to add four more schools beginning in July 2023 — BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston.
The news was first reported Thursday by Sports Illustrated.
The proposed schedule would also protect traditional rivalry games, guarantee that each school would play every other conference member at least once — and include Texas and Oklahoma for both seasons.
Despite widespread speculation to the contrary, the Big 12 is operating under the working assumption the Longhorns and Sooners will remain in the conference through the 2024-25 academic year before moving to the SEC when the Big 12′s grant of rights expire, the source said. The two schools would face a potentially prohibitive buyout to leave early.
The Big 12 would then have 12 members beginning with the 2025 season, assuming there is no expansion. It’s not known if the Big 12 would continue the proposed scheduling format at that point.
Any early move by Texas and Oklahoma might be tied to the ongoing TV contract rights negotiations between the Big 12 and current partners ESPN and Fox. New Commissioner Brett Yormark told the Associated Press this week that “we’ve had meaningful conversations for the last three-plus weeks, and we’ll see where they go.”
The 2023 schedule is expected to be finalized and released by the end of the year and possibility by Dec. 1, the source said.
Under the format without divisions, the top two teams in the standings would meet in the championship game.
League and school officials believe that is the best way to ensure a meaningful championship game between the top two teams. The format would also potentially aid the conference in putting its champion or even multiple teams in the College Football Playoff.
By including rivalry games in the schedule, the Big 12 hopes to protect existing traditions like Texas-OU and TCU-Baylor while also enhancing new conference rivalries like West Virginia-Cincinnati.
