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Does return of championship game mean Big 12 expansion?

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Big 12 voted unanimously Friday to bring back a championship game beginning in 2017 after failing to have one since 2010.

What's uncertain is whether the conference will remain a 10-team league or expand to 12 and create two divisions.

The NCAA voted in January that a 10-team conference, like the Big 12, may be allowed to hold a championship game provided each team plays a round-robin format within the conference.

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby doesn't necessarily think expansion means better, according to Richard Skinner of WKRC Cincinnati.

"I think it's fair to say, I think, there were still some questions raised about whether adding members was going to be the right thing or if in the end it was going to be dilutive," said Bowlsby.

Oklahoma president David Boren, who last summer said the Big 12 had a "psychologically disadvantage" because of it's size and lack of championship game, said they need more information before looking for more teams.

"We have to wait and see where the data takes us," said Boren, adding the end of the summer will be the next time they revisit the situation. "It's a matter of more data, more comparative data."

Media members from Cincinnati, Memphis, Houston, and Orlando, where UCF plays, were in attendance at the spring meeting.

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