The NBC article was editorialized and didn't tell the whole story. Follow the source of the article,
http://newsok.com/big-12-qa-with-big-12-..._click=rss. There you can see the ACTUAL question and his full answer:
Quote:With a four-team football playoff and five power conferences, do you see conference consolidation coming? Power conferences maybe?
"There are several of us that are numerically challenged. I don’t know that anybody could’ve anticipated that the Big 12 would have 10 and the Big Ten would have 14. ... In our case, I don’t know that there are a lot of obvious candidates out there. We’re distributing about $25 million per school through our distributable revenue, so anybody that would be considered for expansion in our league would have to bring at least pro-rata value. ... But the opportunity to move from one high-visibility conference to another is pretty slim right now. I don’t see much movement in the near- to mid-term. As we get near the end of some of these TV contracts, which would be 10 or 12 years down the road, there may be some renewed conversations. The only movement that is possible right now is from some of the secondary-level conferences that might move people into one of the five high profiles."
The question only asked about P5 to P5 conference realignment. Bowlsby himself was the one to bring up G5 to P5 movement... and he acknowledged that it could happen: "The only movement that is possible right now is from some of the secondary-level conferences that might move people into one of the five high profiles."
This indicates two things. Bowlsby reinforces the idea that GOR's will hold, at least until TV contracts are renegotiated. That should be non-news to most people. The
interesting thing to take away from this is that he took the initiative to say that a G5 school could move up in the near future. He didn't say it would be the Big 12, but I personally find it unlikely that he would offer up such information if the Big 12 didn't have at least some interest in the matter.
Indeed, he admitted that some conferences are "numerically challenged," and then immediately went on to discuss the idea of Big 12 expansion. Make of that what you wish, but he is almost certainly referring to the Big 12 being too small.
And to those that say Bowlsby claimed there weren't
any candidates out there, reread his statement: "...In our case, I don’t know that there are a lot of obvious candidates out there." In contrast to previous statements, he didn't say that there aren't
any candidates (and that the Big 12 is happy at 10), just that he didn't know if there are
a lot of obvious candidates. Depending on his tone, he may indeed have meant there were no viable Big 12 candidates at all, or he could have been insinuating that there are a few viable candidates. With a video of this interview, it might be easier to interpret.
Overall, this is not disappointing news for G5 hopefuls. If anything, hopefuls should be excited that Bowlsby himself seemingly implied that the Big 12 was too small and said that some G5 schools could move up to a P5 in the near future. Personally, I don't put a lot of weight in Bowlsby's responses today either way, as many were generalized and not specific. Conference realignment isn't publicly discussed until after the fact. But if this interview means anything, it more affirms that a G5 to P5 movement could happen soon rather than denying the possibility of any Big 12 expansion. My two cents.