IRVING - The headlines aren't dramatic or sexy and neither is the process.

The Big 12 is taking a hard statistical look at its future in ways that will impact the return of a football title game, possible expansion and a conference television network. The goal: having the information to take the next step in making a decision.

The conference is hopeful about receiving the information in time for its spring meetings, May 31-June 3 in Irving. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby called it a "bit of stake in the ground."

Basically, the meeting of the conference athletic directors on Thursday and the league board of directors Friday serves as a prelude.

The hot-button topics remain the same: expansion, a conference TV network and a football title game return. In case you've forgotten, Oklahoma president David Boren has done his best to remind you the past month.

"I expect that will be a big data dump for us, and also a big discussion on a variety of topics," Bowlsby said. "You all know what those topics are, and as we've said before, I think they are interwoven in ways that are inseparable. You're dealing with one, you're dealing with all."

Very little concrete happened Thursday. Bowlsby acknowledged that it was very unlikely but not impossible for the Big 12 to reinstate a football title game for 2016. Whether one returns for 2017 might be the verdict of Chicago-based numbers crunchers Navigate Research and media consultants Bevilacqua Helfant Ventures (BHV).

Navigate Research ran a variety of scenarios of schedules and conference alignments, offering percentages of how that would affect the conference's chances of reaching the College Football Playoff.

"A deep dive," Bowlsby said, in might have been an understatement. The numbers included all kinds of head-spinning possibilities: eight conference games, nine conference games, title game, no title game, current membership, two more members, and four more members. Variations involved provisions for traditional rivals. ADs suggested even more. Bowlsby wouldn't reveal which scenario so far is the best roadmap to the CFP. So far the Big 12 is one for two, having missed in 2014 and reached it this past season with Oklahoma.

BHV will explore all kinds of options on a title game, including how much revenue would it produce. Estimates have ranged from $20 million annually to upwards of $35 million. The research could open the door to discussions of a conference network.

Bowlsby declined to say if the Big 12 has talked with broadcast partners ESPN or Fox Sports about a network, but called it "an enormously complex process." He pointed out that all 10 schools have third-tier rights deals with different providers. It's not just Texas and the Longhorn Network, identified by Boren as a key stumbling block.

For example, Kansas has a lucrative seven-year deal with ESPN and Time Warner and AD Sheahon Zenger said his school was "very neutral" on a network.

Texas athletic director Mike Perrin made it clear that the school still views the Longhorn Network as a positive.

"I do take pride in what we provide to them by way of access and content and the way they deliver it," he said, pointing to the football signing day coverage. "They've been good to work with."

Bowlsby didn't promise hard-and-fast decisions by June, only that the Big 12 is moving in that direction.

"I think we've got to have processes that have a beginning, middle and an end," Bowlsby said.

Twitter: @ChuckCarltonDMN