Memphis’ desperate Big 12 membership proposal still got shot down
The Memphis Tigers are looking for a rescue buoy for a power conference. While university sports have reorganized in the realignment of conferences in recent years, Memphis has remained stuck during the American Athletic Conference, which quickly became a half-majeur league. Tigers are desperate to go out, and they are ready to offer hundreds of millions to do so.
The Big 12 received a proposal from Memphis which offered $ 200 million in university partners, according to the Ross Dellenger reports from Yahoo! Sporty. Memphis’ proposal also indicates that the school will not have any turnover of the League for the first five years, and also includes an option where the conference can expel them after 2031 if it decides that tigers “not add value”.
Memphis puts a huge money on the table to enter the Big 12, but the conference still keeps them. At least 12 of the 16 school presidents of the conference must vote yes to let Memphis enter the league, and at the moment, the tigers do not have the votes.
Big 12 “not interested” to add Memphis despite the school offering $ 250 million in the league, sources said @ On3sports. Memphis was trying to buy way in Big 12. Yahoo 1er reported that Memphis trying to get Big 12 invites
– Brett McMurphy (@brett_mcmurphy) July 21, 2025
Memphis tried to enter the Big 12 when the conference added Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and Byu a few years ago. He rejected them then, and it seems that it will reject them again now.
Big 12 has also rejected Uconn and Gonzaga in recent years. The current offer of Memphis would put much more money on the table for the Big 12, and that still does not seem sufficient.
Dellenger reports that Memphis considers this as a “risk -free” proposal. The longtime university sponsors Fedex and Lowe would have accelerated most of the money.
Memphis’ proposal is described as a concept “without risk”. The school would take (1) a zero distribution for 5 years, (2) add, in the sponsorships, up to $ 3 million per year in the Big 12 schools and (3) submit to the expulsion after 2030 if Big 12 considers that it does not add any value.
– Ross Dellenger (@rossdellenger) July 21, 2025
Memphis has considerably increased his investment over the years, with the financial assistance of the main school sponsors like Fedex and Lowe’s.
With a massive gift from Fedex to come, the school estimates that it will reach the full 20.5 million dollars of reviews with its athletes by next year.
– Ross Dellenger (@rossdellenger) July 21, 2025
Memphis shows his despair with this offer, and it will still not be good enough. The Tigers have built a very good football program with consecutive seasons of 10 consecutive victories in 2025. The male basketball team, trained by Penny Hardaway, did the NCAA tournament in three of the last four years, but has not yet progressed on the first weekend.
Memphis fans like their tigers. The university wants a seat at the table of big children, but so far, the Big 12 still prevents them.
