FWST: TV partners push back against Big 12 expansion plans

As speculation about Big 12 expansion candidates continues to circulate at warp speed, the league’s primary television partners are pushing back in attempts to add new teams to the 10-member league simply to produce a short-term financial windfall.

The Sports Business Journal reported Monday that executives at ESPN and Fox Sports aredigging in their heels about the Big 12’s plan to trigger a clause in the league’s existing contracts that calls for carriers to pay current market value for new members added during the life of television contracts in place through the 2024-25 school year. Citing unnamed sources within the TV industry, the SBJ report said network officials are not happy with the idea of paying $20 million or more for each new member the league might add from non-Power 5 leagues as part of an anticipated two- or four-team league expansion.

Among the likely expansion candidates are Brigham Young, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis and Connecticut. When Big 12 officials went public with their expansion plans on July 19, commissioner Bob Bowlsby made it clear that league administrators had no problems triggering the clause in existing TV contracts that calls for current value for additional members added to the league during the remaining years of the existing deals (Big 12 schools averaged $30.4 million per school in conference-related disbursements last year, most of it from TV revenues).