Hey, Big 12: Annex Las Vegas and San Diego

The Big 12 Conference will expand to 12 member schools sometime in the not-terribly-distant future, no matter what the league tells you now.

The Big 12 is at 10 members for now, and claims it has no plans to add a couple more. Leagues never admit otherwise. But you don't restore a conference-title game in football if you're planning on staying at 10 teams indefinitely.

For one thing, a 10-team league increases the likelihood a 2-loss, or 3-loss, or even 4-loss team would show up in the championship and possibly foul up the league's chance of sending a team to the College Football Playoff. The Big 12 had a team in the 2015 CFP, by the way.

For another, it's grow-or-die in the inevitable march toward a super division in college football. The Big Ten isn't done expanding, nor is the SEC. If the Big 12 has any hope of not getting splintered and diminished as this century progresses, it needs to be as beefy as it can.

The problem is, none of the most-discussed possibilities have much prestige. Cincinnati? Houston? Memphis? Central Florida? Boise State? BYU? There isn't a Power 5 conference that lusts for any of them.

The Big 12 needs to think bigger. So why not appeal to Americans' sense of fun. Grab Nevada-Las Vegas and San Diego State.

Powerful people in Las Vegas want to get a domed stadium built there. The NFL's Oakland Raiders are open about wanting to move to Vegas. The days of major sports leagues and organizations shunning Sin City are over.

The fact those two Mountain West Conference schools are located so far from the rest of the Big 12 members shouldn't be too big a concern, since the league welcomed West Virginia a few years ago just to have a warm body after the exodus of Texas A&M, Colorado and Missouri.

Which leads me to another big idea. Trade West Virginia to the SEC and get Missouri back. Mizzou fits in Big 12 country. West Virginia does not.

Missouri is addicted to its share of the vast SEC cash flow, so let the school keep that and make West Virginia keep its share of the Big 12 pie. The attorneys can figure out the details. West Virginia should be happy just to be aligned with the Kentuckys and Tennessees and all them.

Why would the SEC care if it had West Virginia instead of Missouri? Nick Saban won't let either win the league's football title, anyhow.

By the way, how does West Virginia recruit in basketball? Does Bob Huggins tell kids 'You'll get to make four separate flights every winter to Texas, two to Oklahoma, two to Kansas, and one to Iowa if you join us? We'll try to a find a day for you to squeeze in some classes.'

The Mountaineers' nearest conference foe is Iowa State, a mere 862 miles from campus. Texas Tech is almost twice as far.

Fans of current Big 12 members other than West Virginia would happily make regular-season football trips to San Diego or Las Vegas. Who from Texas or Oklahoma or Kansas or Iowa would eagerly plan a weekend journey to Boise or Cincinnati?

If the Big 12 waits too long, I'll have no choice but to insist the Big Ten snaps up UNLV and San Diego State instead. Don't laugh. In the last five years alone, we've seen the Big Ten get caught between the moon (Nebraska) and New York City (Rutgers). I know it's crazy. But it's true.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com