Big 12 Reportedly Rejects New Membership

Arizona State will likely remain the last school that joins the Big 12 conference for the foreseeable future.

Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellinger reported earlier today that the Memphis Tigers had launched an aggressive bid to join the Big 12 - but have been rebuffed to this point.

More on the efforts below:

"Memphis has proposed to the Big 12 a lucrative membership proposal — a serious enough endeavor that league presidents met Monday to discuss the offer — but the proposition is not believed to have the necessary support, for now."

"The proposal from Memphis — one of the most aggressive membership propositions in college athletics history — features hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship commitments to the Big 12 from UM-affiliated corporate partners, as well as the school eschewing revenue distribution from the league for at least five years."

The extreme concessions that are being made by Memphis do not seem to be enough, and a vast majority of school presidents will have to be convinved to admit the Tigers as a full member.

"Big 12 officials are in the midst of exploring the proposal, but league-wide support is not there, multiple conference officials told Yahoo Sports. Any expansion move needs the support of a super majority of the league’s presidents and chancellors, or 12 of the 16. A more finalized copy of the Memphis proposal was disseminated among conference athletic administrators in the past few days."

The Sun Devils, University of Arizona, and University of Utah were all granted membership in the Big 12 in August 2023 - just hours after Oregon and Washington were added to the Big 10.

The three former schools were not the first choice to add to the league - the latter two were. However, all three schools provided more than Memphis currently does and Arizona State quite arguably is aiding in improving the current image of the conference.

While Memphis may not be the pick of the litter when it comes to expansion, there's little doubt that the conference will be looking to add new programs one way or another in the future.

The uncertain future of the ACC conference has opened many eyes - as it would be logical for conference commissioner Brett Yormark and school presidents to target schools such as Louisville in the event of the conference splintering, but that proposition is far from a guarantee.

As for the Arizona State football season at hand - Kenny Dillingham's program will seek to repeat as conference champions in an effort to continue establishing themselves as the alpha of the league.

Read more on projecting the 10 best players on Arizona State's roster going into the new season here, and on Sam Leavitt being selected as the Big-12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year here.

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