After spending a lot of Bob Bowlsby's time, hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants and not a little of the Big 12's remaining credibility, it'd be a first-rate political disaster if the league decided next month it wouldn't expand after all. Which, of course, doesn't mean it still won't do its worst. Because this is, after all, the Big 12. These guys would have argued over the seating arrangement on the last lifeboat off the Titanic.

Even so, because of the nice bonus its TV partners would have to fork over, here's betting the Big 12 adds two schools. Furthermore, the lucky couple will be Houston and Cincinnati, essentially for two reasons:

They're the easiest and most logical candidates for the short term.

There's no long term for the Big 12.

If this sounds like a "good news, bad news" scenario, it probably depends on your perspective.

In my case, for instance, "long term" means a shelf life that isn't stamped on the label.

The Big 12's TV deals run out in 2024-25. At that time, if not sooner, it'll be like flipping on the lights and watching the teenagers scatter.

The reason it won't last is because Texas and Oklahoma aren't in it for the long haul. Texas has stuck it out this long, in fact, because of its lucrative Longhorn Network, which its Big 12 peers allowed it to keep, basically because they had no other choice.

But Texas' deal with ESPN runs out in 2030, and if the date doesn't exactly coincide with the expiration of the Big 12's TV deal, it's close enough that it won't impede negotiations with another league.

Texas has long wished to move on from its roots and partner up with other big universities with similar academic and athletic ideals. Once upon a time, it was the Pac-10. Now the Big Ten seems a more likely destination.

That's if it's still called the Big Ten when its massive $2.64 billion deal with Fox and ESPN runs out in 2023.

The college landscape will shift dramatically once again when all those TV contracts expire. None of the big players wants to re-up just yet simply because no one knows now what the market will bear.

Might there be factors not currently in play? Will fans get games on the likes of Apple TV or Google?

Would Brent Musburger look the same on a wrist-TV?

Frankly, these weren't among the notions I had for the league when all the talk of expansion came up again. My bad was looking at it from a point of prestige. If the Big 12 were to add, say, Florida State and Clemson, then it could go toe-to-toe with the SEC or anyone else. But if those prospects had ever been valid, they became moot when the ACC and ESPN signed a deal this summer guaranteeing the launch of the league's own network in 2019 and a new deal running through 2035-36. Considering that teams sign a grant of rights with their leagues, guaranteeing a school's revenues to its league through the length of the deal, it pretty much means the ACC is locked up longer than Charles Manson.

No sooner had the ACC deal been announced than we saw the Big 12 play The Bachelorette.

A field of the usual suspects has been vetted and winnowed. Bowlsby will present a number of scenarios to the league's board of directors next month.

Do they want to add schools based on academic prestige? Tulane and SMU, step right up.

Football credentials? Houston couldn't be hotter.

Large alumni base? Except for Notre Dame, no school's more national than BYU.

But here's something to remember: BYU brings baggage. Besides the never-on-Sunday stuff, the student senates at Iowa State and Kansas State are already on record about the school's stance on LGBT rights. You might not care what kids in Manhattan, Kan., think, but it's not exactly good publicity, either. And it's not just college students. The NCAA recently announced it's pulling seven championship events from North Carolina after protests of its "bathroom bill." The Big 12 already has a member down in Waco facing a Title IX lawsuit. It doesn't need any more headaches.

If the Big 12 were really, truly interested in its long-term interests, I believe it would work with BYU officials to reshape some of its stances. Because in every other sense, BYU is a no-brainer. Best expansion candidate by far.

But if you're only talking about the next seven or eight years, and you want your money now, you go for the easy fix. The money's the same. Houston and Cincinnati would settle for far less than the $20 million annual share the other Big 12 members receive, at least initially. The other members then get to split what ESPN reluctantly must dole out in its pro rata arrangement.

Factor in the take from next season's league title game, and it could mean as much as an extra $7 million to $8 million per year per school.

The windfall draws the Big 12 closer to the take of the SEC and Big Ten and keeps everybody happy. At least for the forseeable future. Probably all the Big 12 has anyway.

Twitter: @KSherringtonDMN