AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — After more than a year of watching their league get picked apart, leaders of Big 12 Conference finally made a proactive move Thursday by voting to add TCU as early as next season.

It was the first aggressive act by a league desperate to secure its membership amid dramatic shifts in conference affiliation. And if the Horned Frogs join the Big 12, it would be another sharp blow to the Big East, which was expecting to welcome TCU next season.

TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini Jr. suggested TCU is all but ready to join the Big 12.

“These discussions with the Big 12 have huge implications for TCU,” Boschini said. “It will allow us to return to old rivalries, something our fans and others have been advocating for years. As always, we must consider what’s best for TCU and our student-athletes in this ever-changing landscape of collegiate athletics. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the Big 12.”

TCU, which is leaving the Mountain West Conference, has a rising football program that won the Rose Bowl last season and will play in a sparkling new stadium next year. TCU also was a member of the old Southwest Conference that once included current Big 12 members Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor.

Missouri did not participate in Thursday’s unanimous vote among Big 12 presidents and chancellors to open negotiations with TCU.

TCU’s football stadium is undergoing a $143 million modernizing renovation scheduled to be completed by the 2012 opener. TCU, which got left out of the Big 12 when the league was formed in 1996, would join Baylor as the Big 12’s only private schools.