The University of Memphis’s unprecedented proposal to gain membership into the Big 12 wasn’t enough to convince the league’s administrators to welcome the Tigers into the fold.
According to multiple reports on Monday, Big 12 athletic directors determined the league was not interested in adding Memphis, despite the Tigers offering extraordinary concessions to be considered. For one, Memphis was offering to forego any media rights revenue from the Big 12 for at least five years. The proposal was similar to that of SMU, which successfully swooned the ACC with a sweetheart deal that included forfeiting media rights revenue.
Even more striking from Memphis’ offer, however, was that the school was prepared to allow the Big 12 to remove them from the conference before the league’s next TV deal is done, were it determined they were not adding enough value. The Big 12’s current set of media rights agreements with ESPN and Fox is set to expire in 2031.
It’s clear that Memphis, which currently resides in the recently rebranded American Conference, was willing to make significant sacrifices to gain power conference status.
Per The Athletic, “Memphis’ pitch is an attempt to make this a no-risk situation for the Big 12. The school and its big-money supporters have tried to find a pathway to a Power 4 conference ahead of what could be another round of conference realignment in the next five years.”
The school has also reportedly discussed a football-only membership with the Pac-12 contingent on joining the Big East for its other sports.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.