Mac Engel: College sports is run by football, so why is the Big 12 betting big on basketball?

FORT WORTH, Texas — With the college basketball season over, now we can turn our attention to the games that really matter: Conference realignment, and the exact time of the ACC’s implosion.

As much as this topic exhausts and irritates fans who just want to watch the games, those who put them on nervously propose a variety of just-in-case scenarios around the country. These aren’t “Doomsday” scenarios, but rather a series of potential “What If” chess moves.

We all now live on the SEC and Big Ten’s chess board. This includes you, NCAA. Even if you’re not a King or a Queen on this board, you’re OK with being a rook or a pawn, too. Looking at you, Nebraska.

The ACC and Big 12 are in a death struggle to retain their spots at No. 3 on the four-conference power poll rankings. Where they sit typically depends on where you live.

To keep its spot, the Big 12 is doubling down not on football, but rather basketball. Because all of the premier names in college football belong to the SEC and the Big Ten, the Big 12 sees its future as being the best basketball brand in the sport.

As the Big East has demonstrated, this can work. But the Big 12’s vision has a challenge the Big East does not: Football.

Since he was hired as commissioner of the Big 12, Brett Yormark has made it no secret that he believes basketball is an undervalued property. As football continues to eat up more of the basketball season by expanding its playoffs, this is a calculated but necessary risk.

“It’s the best way to keep our spot at the table,” one Big 12 athletic director said.

The table is that of ESPN, Fox Sports, CBS, Turner, or any potential media rights partner that wants to dump money into live sporting events. Think Amazon Prime. Perhaps Apple TV, too.

The Big 12 leaning more into basketball means it will prioritize the schools that make that sport its priority among the remaining ACC teams if/when that league crumbles, if/when Clemson and Florida State leave. According to people familiar with these “hypothetical” conversations, Duke, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Miami are in the “conversation” of the Big 12’s potential wish list.

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