Texas Hold Em': Longhorns Stay With Big XII

After all the rumors the Longhorns are sticking around in the Big XII and so is everybody else.

Following the announcement by the the Longhorns that they would be staying in the Big XII the other possible departures have decided to stay as well. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M are all staying with the Big XII following Texas' new allegiance to the conference.

For over a week there were rumors that if Texas went the rest would follow. After Nebraska's departure from the conference many believed that the landslide that is conference expansion was just around the corner. Colorado followed right behind the Cornhuskers in departing for the PAC 10.

This appeared to be the rats fleeing off of a sinking ship.

For now it looks like the sinking ship is managing to stay afloat, but for how much longer. A major reason that Texas is staying with the Big XII is because of television money. The Longhorns are reportedly looking to not only cash in on television contracts, but to create their own television network.

This new development could mean major changes for all of college athletics...not just for the Bg XII. If Texas is able to pull off creating their own network there is no stopping another power school like Notre Dame from following the Longhorns lead.

This would be tremendously bad for the Big Ten with the Irish no longer interested in the Big Ten's television revenue which is the highest in all of college athletics.

The major driving force of all conference expansion is the all mighty dollar. With the Big Ten already having it's own network, and the PAC 10 looking to create one, schools outside of those conferences would be ready to jump right on board to cash in. But if schools like Texas can create their own network then the sky is the limit.

This is by no means the last we've heard of conference expansion. The Big Ten and PAC are all still in the market for new schools and expanding. The Big XII is safe for now but there remains many questions about the possibility of conference expansion.

Who will move? Where will they go? When will they go? How big is too big? And how much money is enough?

Only time will tell...