The Big 12 is set to grow in its ranks this week with the expected additions of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF. The expansion teams will make the Big 12 a league full of 12 teams again (with OU and Texas on their way out). However, Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt this week suggested that the additions may not spell the end of expansion in the Big 12.

“I think right now that the right number is four. … But I’m not sure that that’s the last play,” he said of the current expansion. “I think once we get to 2024, 2025, which is the end of our current television agreement, I think we’d like to reserve the right to consider further expansion again at that time. So while I believe the right number today is four, we’d like to reserve the right that at the end of this television contract to have another conversation.”

Hocutt’s words carry a bit more weight than your average AD in the Big 12. He’s worked at OU and Miami but most notably has experience in the College Football Playoff realm as well as the committee chairman for two years. He knows as well as anyone where college athletics stands right now and where it is headed.

The end of the Big 12 contract could mean more change than just a new deal, too. By 2025, OU and Texas will be in the SEC and the landscape may shift by then as well. At the very least, keeping open the option of expansion down the line seems wise, especially if there are obvious candidates the league could add that at the time of a new TV deal could add obvious value.

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