Memphis made a bold effort to join the Big 12 — offering in excess of $200 million — but the conference is not interested in adding the Tigers as a member, sources told CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello and Matt Norlander.
The school would have secured between $200 million and $250 million in various sponsorship commitments as part of its bid to join the league, according to Marcello. Memphis submitted its final proposal in early July, but internal discussions were brief and the Big 12 board showed no interest in adding Memphis to the conference at this time, per Norlander.
Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Monday that Memphis president Bill Hardgrave spent more than a year meeting individually with Big 12 presidents and athletic directors, laying the groundwork for this unprecedented financial commitment to leave the now-called American Conference for a Power Four league.
The proposal included Memphis agreeing to forgo conference revenue distributions for at least five years, a move intended to ease financial concerns among current Big 12 members, per Dellenger.
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Memphis’ efforts mark one of the most ambitious attempts by a Group of Five program to secure Power Four status through a financial package rather than traditional competitive or geographic considerations. SMU left the American for the ACC, but did so by forgoing league revenue for nine years, not involving sponsorships. For now, Memphis remains in limbo as the Big 12 continues to evaluate potential expansion opportunities.
This is not the first time Memphis has been linked to potential Big 12 expansion. In June 2023, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark denied reports that he was part of a league delegation conducting a behind-the-scenes visit to Memphis as part of the conference’s due diligence efforts. At that time, the Big 12 was preparing to officially add BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, and would later bring in Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah from the Pac-12.
The Big 12 had also explored adding Gonzaga and UConn to the conference, with conversations particularly active during the early stages of the post-House settlement era. However, both options faced heavy resistance from several Big 12 athletic directors and presidents. Memphis passed on a Pac-12 opportunity last year while Gonzaga is set to join the Pac-12 next year. For now, the Big 12 will continue forward with its current lineup of 16 full-time members.
The Big 12 recently partnered with PayPal in a deal worth nearly $100 million over five years to serve as the official platform for distributing revenue-sharing payments to athletes. Each Big 12 school will receive more than $1 million to support athlete payments and campus initiatives, but according to Dellenger, Memphis’ proposal — with its sponsorship commitments — would have increased that amount to at least $2 million per school.
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