2012 in major college football. Everybody in the B12 is dramatically increasing their budgets with the exception of Texas Tech (Baylor hasn't published thiers). Texas is of course through the roof and their projected budget for 2012 is going to be $153 million, followed by OK at $90 million and bottom feeder Iowa State is upping their budget over the next season by 17% to a paltry $47 million.

BYU would likely be in the same boat as Utah is now in the Pac 12 in relation to their partner schools if joining the B12. However, BYU won't need to expand their stadium, has already recently upgraded their facilities so they won't need to come up with $10's or $100's of millions of dollars to undertake that massive project.

Utah is going to need to get up to date with their stadium and their practice facilities to be competitive and also spend time and money on thier other sports which lag seriously behind their partner schools in the "Conference of Champions".

Another potential advantage BYU would have in the Big 12 is that after Texas and Oklahoma, the remaining schools in the Big 12 are going to be within striking distance of BYU and there is very little disparity amongst them. BYU's budget last year was reported to be around $35 million and is certainly much higher with their ESPN deal (should be well in the $40 million dollar range). Once they start earning Big 12 money they should get another $10+ million bump and be in the ball park of nearly everyone else in the conference with better facilities than most everyone (obvious exceptions of course).

School FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 Change (2010-12)
Iowa State $40.1 $42.3 $47.0 +17.3%
Kansas $61.1 $64.4 $67.2 +10.0%
Kansas State $44.2 $47.0 $51.5 +16.5%
Missouri $50.0 $53.2 $56.4 +12.8%
Oklahoma $80.5 $85.2 $90.5 +12.4%
Oklahoma State $49.6 $53.7 $57.8 +16.5%
Texas $129.9 $136.8 $153.5 +18.2%
Texas Tech $56.2 $53.0 $54.0 -3.9%


The Pac 12 has a wider range of budgets with more teams in the upper echelon of the conference when it comes to budgets. Utah is projecting a 26% increase for 2012 ($35 million) and that just gets them in striking distance of Washington State at $39 million. When the new revenue plan goes into effect for everyone Utah's boat will rise with the tide but so will everyone elses. They'll be able to make up some ground on schools like ASU and Colorado but will be challenged to make up any more difference (how many times can you go to the well for a 26% increase?).

School FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 Change (2010-12)
Arizona $45.0 $50.0 $55.0 +22.2%
Arizona State $47.3 $45.6 $48.6 +2.7%
California $69.4 $64.2 $71.2 +2.6%
Colorado $46.6 $47.4 $49.3 +5.8%
Oregon $77.9 $84.5 $87.8 +12.7%
Oregon State $49.8 $48.7 $56.6 +13.7%
UCLA $61.9 $64.1 $64.1 +3.6%
Utah $27.8 $29.7 $35.0 +25.9%
Washington $63.2 $62.1 $67.1 +6.2%
Washington State $37.0 $38.5 $39.3 +6.2%

(USC and Stanford budgets weren't available in the article I used but I've seen in several other published articles that USC is in the neighborhood of Oregon along with Stanford).