On Monday in Dallas, the Big 12 Conference announced that it would not expand. A couple thousand miles away, in the Providence offices of the American Athletic Conference, there was a collective sigh of relief.
American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco has spent the past three months wondering and worrying what would happen if the Big 12 expanded. Every school in the 12-member conference except Navy and Tulsa actively lobbied for inclusion in the Big 12.
Cincinnati, Connecticut and Houston were considered the most likely candidates to leave the American in favor of the Big 12.