Tramel: The Big 12 should look west for two new additions

The Big 12 enters its fifth season as a 10-school conference, and never has the league’s status been lower.

Lack of success on the football field. No playoff team, in either the two-team or four-team format, since 2009. Constant tremors of instability and discontent, from the Longhorn Network to expansion debates.

The conference is not in danger of expiring. This is not summer 2010, when after a memorable June weekend the Big 12 was in red alert. Its immediate survival was not assured.

But the Big 12 clearly is hurting in summer 2015. Its long-term survival is questionable. The grant-of-rights, which has secured schools’ television money to the conference, has stabilized conference realignment. Since the Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC signed grant-of-rights, no major school has jumped ship. The Big 12 will be here in 2020.