The Pac-10 wants to become the Pac-16 and devour the Big 12? Don't rule it out.

Hold on to something, college sports fans.

Chip Brown, who has covered University of Texas sports since 1992, has a bit of a blockbuster on Orangebloods.com, a Texas fan site.

Without naming anyone but saying he has "multiple sources close to the situation," Brown claims the Pacific-10 Conference is "prepared to make a bold move and invite Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado to join its league, according to multiple sources close to the situation."

Brown's story is here. A titillating excerpt:

The six teams from the Big 12 would be in an eight-team division with Arizona and Arizona State. The other eight-team division would consist of USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.

The thought is the Big 16 (or whatever they decide for the name) would start its own television network that could command premium subscriber dollars from cable providers on par with the Big Ten Network and pay out upwards of $20 million to each of the 16 schools in TV revenue.

Such a merger between the six Big 12 schools and the Pac-10 would build a conference with seven of the country's top 20 TV markets (Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Seattle and Sacramento). And such a league would likely command attention from every cable system in the country and command a premium rate from every cable system west of the Mississippi.

There is no question the Pac-10 is on the make. Last month, it hired the high-powered Creative Arts Agency of Hollywood to explore possible expansion, media rights deals, and more. The league is going to hold a football media day in New York, of all places.

Another excerpt from Brown's story on a "Big 16."

An invitation from the Pac-10 will be hard for the six Big 12 schools being targeted not to consider. Why? Because Fox Cable Networks (a division of News Corporation), which serves as the chief operating partner of the successful Big Ten Network, appears ready to make the Big 16 Network happen.

Fox is the chief television partner of the Pac-10 currently, and its subsidiary Fox Sports Net currently holds the rights to the Big 12 cable package, which comes up for bid in the spring of 2011. The Pac-10 also has television deals with Fox up for re-bid at the same time.

The Big Ten has shown the conference network model works. According to published reports, the TV revenue paid out to Big Ten schools jumped from $14 million for the fiscal year 2006-07 to $22 million for the fiscal year 2007-08.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.

You know the Southeastern Conference isn't going to sit back and let this happen if it's based in any sort of reality. You know the SEC will tell Texas not to make any move without listening to a counter-offer.

And, oh yeah, what about Iowa State?

Whither the Cyclones if the Big 12 is gutted? Especially if Nebraska and Missouri, you know, run off to join the Big Ten?

The Mountain West Conference? Meh.

A new "Big 8" with Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, and maybe a Conference USA raid of Houston, Memphis and Southern Mississippi?

Who knows? All we do know is the status quo isn't going to be the status quo for much longer. It's the law of the jungle out there, and the bigger cats are licking their chops.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:  UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau met Monday with the Cal Alumni Club of New England in Wellesley, Mass.

According to BearTerritory.net publisher Ryan Gorcey:

... sources say that during that meeting, Cal's top official revealed several tantalizing tidbits in regards to the possible expansion of the Pac-10 Conference.

Birgeneau confirmed that the chancellors and presidents of the Pac-10 member schools will be holding a conference meeting on June 6 in San Francisco, and said that he would be "surprised if something did not happen that revolutionized college athletics."

Birgeneau said that expansion is a real possibility in the near future, and that the Pac-10 is seriously considering "a couple of schools, at least one of which meets the academic standards of the rest of the Pac-10."

The Chancellor cited the fact that Illinois makes $13 million per year alone from its participation in the Big Ten Network, a "model we're really looking to, going forward."