Memphis Offers $200M to Join Big 12, But Support From Conference Leadership Lacking

The University of Memphis has made a lucrative offer to join the Big 12 Conference  — prompting league presidents to meet Monday to discuss the five-year, $200 million proposal — but so far the necessary support within the league appears to be lacking.

As reported by Ross Dellenger, senior college football reporter for Yahoo Sports, "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."

Multiple sources spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity about the proposal, which is the latest and most serious chapter in the school’s effort to move out of the newly branded American Conference and into one of the four power leagues.

According to Dellenger, Memphis president Bill Hardgrave has spent at least 14 months visiting with the presidents and top athletic administrators of many Big 12 schools in individual, on-campus meetings that have culminated in a membership offer to the league that is expected to be as high as $200 million over the next five years.

"Big 12 officials are in the midst of exploring the proposal, but league-wide support is not there, multiple conference officials told Yahoo Sports," Dellenger wrote Monday. "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 Big 12 rejected member proposals from both Gonzaga and UConn within the past 18 months, but neither offer was as lucrative as the Memphis proposal.

“We vetted Memphis when we added the other four [Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and BYU] and chose not to add them,” one Big 12 administrator told Yahoo Sports. “What’s changed now?”

The Memphis proposal comes as Big 12 leaders work to compete against the Big Ten and SEC, both with more lucrative television contracts and revenue distributions. Big 12 schools are receiving roughly $1 million in additional revenue from a sponsorship with PayPal. Memphis’ proposal would have increased that by at least $2 million with sponsorship commitments from UM partners. The school is historically aligned with partners such as FedEx, Lowe’s and AutoZone, Dellenger reported.

Memphis’ proposal has been described as a “no-risk” concept. The school would take zero distribution for the final five years of the Big 12's new television deal with ESPN and Fox, add the sponsorships in excess of $150 million over five years, and subject itself to expulsion after 2030-31 if the conference deems it is not adding value, according to Dellenger.

"The sizable offer represents a historic moment in college sports of a school literally purchasing its way into a conference — a move that further expounds upon a precedent set by SMU's entrance into the [Atlantic Coast Conference]," Dellenger wrote. "While SMU agreed to take no league revenue for a stretch of time in the ACC, the school did not arrange millions in sponsorships for the league."