Commissioner Bob Bowlsby was told to evaluate the interest of the schools that have contacted the Big 12 about joining, conference official David Boren said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. “It’s not yet a decision if any particular university or college – or even a definite decision about when we expand or the way, the form this would take”, Boren said. “In the Big 12, geography makes sense, the economics make sense, but recruiting makes no sense for us”.
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Whatever the Big 12 decides, the chances of growth seem greater now than they ever have, and expansion madness has returned, as if it really ever ended. Bowlsby is going to query candidates’ interest in joining up, the league’s going to consider adding to its membership by two or four teams.
Overall, Bowlsby said he was satisfied with the progress Baylor has made. “But it’s also possible that we could have a special meeting sometime between now and then”.
Talk of that faded when media analysts told the Big 12’s power-brokers there was no market for a conference television network. That would give a new member one year in its current conference – this academic year – before bolting. The next tier includes South Florida, Central Florida, Memphis, Colorado State, Houston, Boise State and Tulane.
BYU hasn’t been in a football conference since they were a member of the Mountain West from 1999-2010. The Big 12 held itself together by adding TCU and West Virginia in 2012. Now it’s a no-shot, and the Big 12 obviously felt the need to act. That led to Baylor and TCU being named co-champions in 2014 and both being left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff. Whether it’s the Big 12, ACC or Big 10 it needs to come relatively soon.
On the downside, the Bulls are coming off their first winning season in a half-decade, and their average announced attendance for six home football games in 2015 (26,578) ranked ninth in the American Athletic Conference.
The Big 12 is expected to add at least 2 schools, possibly 4.
“There was continued interest in expansion, and the directions to the commissioner reflect that”, Boren said. He said the conference was “psychologically disadvantaged” by having only 10 teams.
Neither Boren nor Bowlsby mentioned specific candidates for expansion, just criteria. Even Boren was backing off. What sounded earnest Tuesday, in the wake of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s announcement that it was launching its own TV network, could always dim in enthusiasm once the presidents and chancellors get back to their ivy-covered offices. The grant of rights virtually locks conference members together.
Memphis – The Tigers have a notable sponsor in FedEx CEO Fred Smith, an alum who has promised his company’s sponsorship to the Big 12. He said “we can not just sit on the sidelines and not be proactive ourselves”. That is, if a school is, for instance, only willing to take $5 million a year for the next ten years, it could allow $200 million it would be entitled to receive to return to the existing ten Big 12 conference schools to split among themselves.
“We’re looking at those schools that are not only have arrived competitively but have a huge potential to improve their competitive capabilities, too, by becoming members of our conference”, he said.
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You are reading news and information on LongIsland.com, Long Island’s Most Popular Website, Since 1996. Boren said the news of that agreement played a factor in Tuesday’s vote.
