They've spent the last decade talking with all kinds of schools and media partners. They've vetted numerous G5 programs with the assistance of their media partners. They now have the viewership data to back up the New Big 12's media value.

Take a look at the numbers for the Big 12 Championship and the AAC Championship with Cincy v. Houston. Both of those outdrew the ACC Championship, and the Big 12 game doubled the Pac-12 Championship with Utah-Oregon. This is true for the rest of the season as well. The numbers for the Big 12 without Texas/OU aren't horrible and the new additions help with that both in ratings and markets. I'm not trying to spin this as a "good as the SEC/B1G" etc. No one is that good, but the New Big 12 value was already projected to be competitive with the PAC with USC/UCLA. Without them? New Big 12 is making more money than the PAC. Take some valuable entities from the PAC? That new contract escalates for everyone.

OSU/ISU/WVU/etc. don't need to be nervous because things are shaping up to indicate an expansion by the Big 12 rather than a merger and dissolution of two conference. Coordination takes time and effort and has to get around presidential egos. In college sports, coordination is almost always a day late and a dollar short. Examples: CUSA's failure to merge and redistribute with the Sunbelt. PAC-12 refusal to merge with the Big 12 leftovers. What ultimately happens is time runs out for one group and they then get picked over by the other who is more prepared. In this case, there is a vision, there is a plan, a reason, and a collective will to move and it will happen.