new conference. Technically I believe it was the NCAA that granted autonomy to the existing Autonomous 5, but either way it isn’t something you can simply grant your own new conference. It is something that must be granted upon you by those outside your conference, which is difficult. He Big 12 will essentially be grandfathered in as long as they keep at least 4 of their teams, which is why the new conference of leftovers will have to be under the Big 12 name.