The Big 12 expansion groundswell

[falafel]

If anything, that makes Rice more attractive to SU since he understands this isn't about sports.

To a certain degree, this must not be about sports. Why else would Air Force, Rice and Tulane still be in the mix?

[BlueK]

To a certain degree, this must not be about sports. Why else would Air Force, Rice and Tulane still be in the mix?

The Big 12 stated their criteria at the beginning. Academics was one of them, along with fanbase size, strength of the entire athletic dept., etc. So this merely shows they want to make it about ALL the criteria, which is good for BYU. BYU makes a strong to very strong case on everything the commish listed.

[lambdacoug]

The Big 12 stated their criteria at the beginning. Academics was one of them, along with fanbase size, strength of the entire athletic dept., etc. So this merely shows they want to make it about ALL the criteria, which is good for BYU. BYU makes a strong to very strong case on everything the commish listed.

Too bad about the whole shame list thing killing our chances.

[Uncle Ted]

Mcmurphy reporting that Memphis is officially out. LOL.

http://www.espn.com/college-football...sion-candidate

The Memphis fans are taking it well...

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[Uncle Ted]

Mcmurphy reporting that Memphis is officially out. LOL.

http://www.espn.com/college-football...sion-candidate

The list does not include Temple, which had been previously reported by ESPN as still being in the mix.

Bill is not going to be happy...

[All-American]

Here is the NDA from Memphis, but it looks really boring so I didn't read it.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/spor...392168051.html

And here's a link to the doc itself.

http://media.jrn.com/documents/big12nda.pdf

[Uncle Ted]

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[Uncle Ted]

Too bad about the whole shame list thing killing our chances.

Yeah, which number was that on the Big 12's criteria list again?

[Moliere]

The Memphis fans are taking it well...

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It's almost like CB after a loss to Utah. Sad really. I'm afraid we BYU fans will be even worse if they expand and we don't get in.

Anyone checked FedEx's stock price. I wonder if their president let out a sigh of relief now that he doens't have to pump millions of dollars into UofMemphis.

[myboynoah]

It's almost like CB after a loss to Utah. Sad really. I'm afraid we BYU fans will be even worse if they expand and we don't get in.

Anyone checked FedEx's stock price. I wonder if their president let out a sigh of relief now that he doens't have to pump millions of dollars into UofMemphis.

That whole "FedEx is going to put up the money to bankroll us" argument was weird. As if FedEx shareholders think that's a great idea.

[LiveCoug]

President of Memphis speaks:

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Some Memphis fans are hoping this means they are still in. LOL.

[Moliere]

That whole "FedEx is going to put up the money to bankroll us" argument was weird. As if FedEx shareholders think that's a great idea.

Yes, and the Big12 saw right through it, apparently. Here's a clip from the ESPN article on it: http://www.espn.com/college-football...sion-candidate

In Rudd's letter, he reiterated that FedEx would be willing to sponsor a Big 12 championship game but that FedEx also "would uniquely position the University of Memphis to request only a portion of new revenue for several years until renegotiation of the conference media right agreement occurs."

Sources told ESPN that offering to accept less revenue might have actually hurt Memphis' chances. The league, sources said, is more interested in teams that can strengthen and add value to the league as opposed to schools that need to be "propped up" by the league.

While I hate the dog and pony show going on around the expansion, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the Big12 doesn't care about the dog and pony show and they are trying to get things right. Maybe they really do have buyer's remorse from the last time around...or they see that other conferences aren't going to pounce on what's left and they can take their time and do a real analysis.

[Uncle Ted]

To a certain degree, this must not be about sports. Why else would Air Force, Rice and Tulane still be in the mix?

History might have a part in this as well... Tulane use to be a member of the SEC (a founding member). Houston, SMU, and Rice were members of the SWC. Cincy, UConn, and USF (for a very short time) were members of the Big East (in some form or another). These schools were in a significant conference at one time or another. Independent BYU is considered a P5 school by most of the P5 conferences in terms of OOC scheduling.

Air Force, CSU, and UCF don't have much in the way of history but seem to offer some interesting things. UCF (formerly Florida Tech) has a huge student body size and sits in the backyard of ESPN's parent company. Air Force is being considered for football only and has been considered for other big conference expansions. CSU has a clean athletic program (in terms of NCAA violations) and does pretty well with football and basketball. CSU does alright academically. It ranks about the same as Utah in US News but lower in Forbes. Neither is as good as BYU in US News and Forbes.

[Uncle Ted]

Yes, and the Big12 saw right through it, apparently. Here's a clip from the ESPN article on it: http://www.espn.com/college-football...sion-candidate





While I hate the dog and pony show going on around the expansion, it's becoming clearer and clearer that the Big12 doesn't care about the dog and pony show and they are trying to get things right. Maybe they really do have buyer's remorse from the last time around...or they see that other conferences aren't going to pounce on what's left and they can take their time and do a real analysis.

Yeah, I think they don't want to make the same mistakes as the Pac-12.

[lambdacoug]

Yeah, which number was that on the Big 12's criteria list again?

Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask SU, it's #1.