The game of conference realignment is truly never-ending.
But this time, only an attempt was made. As first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports, the Memphis Tigers’ athletic department made a godfather offer in hopes of joining the Big 12 Conference. Memphis proposed an estimated $200 million over the next five years in effort to secure a bid as the conference’s 17th member in what is believed to be the most lucrative offer to join a conference in college athletics history.
Shortly after the
Yahoo! report, On3 Sports’ Brett McMurphy reported that the Big 12 was “not interested” in adding Memphis despite the offer.
Memphis has resided in the American Conference (which rebranded from its former name, the American Athletic Conference on Monday) since its inaugural season in 2013. In football, the Tigers won the conference championship in 2019 and additionally participated in the conference title game in 2017 and 2018.
Memphis has secured 11-straight .500+ seasons, which is currently the seventh longest streak in the FBS. The Tigers are fresh off an 11-2 campaign — their second-best season in history in terms of wins and AP Poll final ranking. Memphis has finished ranked four times as an AAC member, tying Cincinnati and UCF as the most as a member of the conference.
However, despite Memphis’ rising football brand, an established men’s basketball brand (the Tigers competed in the 2008 National Championship), and the financial backing of FedEx, the Big 12 is not ready to expand beyond 16 teams. The Big 12 invited three of Memphis’ American Conference peers — Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF — in the fall of 2021, and all three programs joined the league for the 2023 football season. Meanwhile, Memphis stayed put in the American, which simultaneously replaced its Big 12 departures with six Conference USA programs in 2023.
In order for Big 12 expansion to pass, any prospective member would need support from 12 of the 16 university presidents. The league presidents reportedly met Monday per Yahoo!, but no proposition is expected to pass in Memphis’ favor.
In addition to the $200 million offer, Memphis would also need to pay a $25 million exit fee to the American Conference. However, that move is off the table for the time being.
The American Conference holds its annual media days in Charlotte on July 24 and 25, and this topic is expected to receive plenty of attention, as American commissioner Tim Pernetti and Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield will be in attendance.
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