Makes vastly more sense to take the best in the AAC and leave the rest behind…. And maintain the Big12 brand.
Big12 takes UCF, Cincy, Houston as well as BYU and the AAC is not a step behind the P5 any longer. The AAC then becomes the equivalent of the MWC.
Meanwhile the Big12 keeps its seat at the A5 table although with monetary loss. Yet, the per team payout would be much greater than an AAC merge.
Competitively, the conference would be seriously on par with the PAC.