Knowing full well that Big 12 expansion is the topic du jour, league commissioner Bob Bowlsby is bracing for some frank discussions at the upcoming athletic director and presidents meetings in February.

Bowlsby said eight of 10 league members must approve adding any new teams. It’s clear Oklahoma President David Boren favors expansion, as does West Virginia’s E. Gordon Gee. But Bowlsby feels others are "probably all over the place still."

"I think there are those who have com to the conclusion that we do need to get bigger. There are those who may feel otherwise," Bowlsby said during a question-and-answer session with University of Texas students on Tuesday.

"We don’t have any imperative for getting larger," he said. "We haven’t really spent any time thinking about who the candidates are, if there are any candidates. But there has been media speculation about it. It doesn’t take any genius to look around and see where there may be prospects."

Asked whether Oklahoma or West Virginia could ever leave the Big 12, Bowlsby said, "There are always those possibilities. … Right now, we’re distributing more on an individual level than any other conference."

The other hot topic is whether the Big 12 will add a championship game for the 2016 season. Earlier this month, the league won the right to host a title game even with just 10 members. Bowlsby said the Big 12 can’t realistically host a championship game until 2017.

"I don’t know that we’ll take definitive steps there," Bowlsby said. "I honestly don’t know where our ADs and presidents are on it right now. I imagine we’ll have a fairly spirited conversation. I just don’t feel like we’ll come to closure on it. On a practical level, we don’t have a venue at this point."

Bowlsby has said previously that Longhorn Network was a "boulder in the road" to having a Big 12 network, like the Pac-12 or SEC has. The Longhorns get approximately $15 million annually from ESPN.

"I don’t think we could enter into a network without the University of Texas participating," Bowlsby said. "They’re a flagship program within our conference and they’re always going to be. But there are things in place that are, well, I wouldn’t say longstanding at this point — they’re four years into a 20-year contact, so there’s a long term commitment. But we need to keep everybody at the table talking and discussing to see how all the boats can rise.

"We’re smaller, we don’t have a championship game, we don’t have a network," he added. "Right now, our Tier 1 media (rights) is slightly undervalued. Over the next 15 years, the delta between us and the other major conferences is going to get large."

On the College Football Playoff, Bowlsby indicated he likes the four-team format.

"Putting 13 honest people in a room and having them go through the process is just fine," Bowlsby said. "You’re never going to make everybody happy. If you went to eight teams, you’ll have a ninth and 10th team unhappy, too."

Bowlsby also touched on a number of other topics, including whether athlete should be paid, the growing time demands on athletes and Title IX. The commissioner said he’d like to add men’s soccer league wide if ever possible. "It’s just a glaring omission for us," he said.