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Will Memphis someday join the Pac-12?
It’s possible. But, five days after ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Pac-12 officials have discussed of adding Memphis as a football-only member, Tigers athletic director Ed Scott said his focus remains elsewhere.
Specifically, getting Memphis into a Power 4 league.
“I know that (Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould is) worried about finding her eighth full member. I’m worried about trying to get us into a Power 4 conference,” Scott said June 20 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. “That is our first goal, unequivocally. That’s always been our goal.”
Scott declined an offer from the Pac-12 in September. He cited several reasons, including dramatically increased travel costs associated with being in the same conference as Boise State, Washington State, Fresno State, Colorado State, Oregon State, San Diego State and Utah State. Another factor was that the Pac-12 did not have a firm, fully executed media rights package in place.
“The only thing that has changed is that Pete Thamel wrote an article. It hasn’t changed from my standpoint,” he said.
Including that the Pac-12 still does not have a media rights deal, which makes it unclear how much each school will make. Memphis received about $11 million from the AAC for the 2023-24 academic year, but Thamel reported that the Pac-12 likely will pay its schools less than that.
“I checked my email just before I left, knowing I was going to get that question, and I did not see any news on the ticker that the Pac-12 announced their media deal,” he said. “From my position, there can’t be conversations about that until the Pac-12 figures out what they’re doing and we know what their media deal is going to look like.
“Because, I’m not going to take a bad deal.”
Another component of Thamel’s report indicated there is a school…
Source link : https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/college/memphis-tigers/2025/06/20/memphis-pac-12-football-conference-realignment-big-east/84263780007/
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Publish date : 2025-06-20 22:27:00
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