Big 12 Affiliate Members

[tonyfil]

So I was just thinking about the "news" of six affiliate wrestling members and the wonderful web of affiliates. Just to recap:

Under the Big 12 banner, the conference now has the following affiliate members:

Gymnastics: Denver
Wrestling: South Dakota State, NDSU, N Colorado, Utah Valley, Wyoming (edit and Air Force
Rowing: Tennessee, Alabama, Old Dominion

And the following Big 12 institutions are elsewhere:

M. Soccer: WVU (MAC)
Rifle: TCU (Patriot Rifle Conf), WVU (Great American Rifle Conference)
M. Gym: OU (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)

My point is this... In the past five years, our rowing schools went from being C-USA affiliates to the Big 12 being to lead conference. Now a majority of wrestling schools are affiliate members. While most expansion talk is primarily in the football realm, I can't help but wonder if the Big 12 brass have an under-the-radar plan of building a larger base for the conference through olympic sports.

Anyone have any insight? Or think this growth in affiliates promotes the conference as more solid than the media tends to imply, or is this a bad sign of what's to come?

 

[00clone]

As with most realignment topics...I have a feeling olympic sports mean nothing WRT realignment.

 

[theshadow]

I can't help but wonder if the Big 12 brass have an under-the-radar plan of building a larger base for the conference through olympic sports.

Anyone have any insight?

The Big 12 had to add teams in wrestling in order to get its automatic NCAA qualifier status back. Not much of a choice.

 

[cycophagus]

Hmmmm ... could they get a couple of affiliates for football to get their championship game back? BYU and ND maybe?