Memphis, Tulane and South Florida plan to announce their continued commitment to the American Athletic Conference, turning down serious interest from the Pac-12, sources told Yahoo Sports on Monday. UTSA, also courted by the Pac-12, will announce its commitment to the AAC as well.
After days of deliberations with the Pac-12, the schools — as a group — decided to remain in their current conference, where AAC commissioner Tim Pernetti is exploring avenues for revenue enhancement, including private-equity involvement, new distribution models and further expansion of the league footprint.
The four AAC programs received on Monday proposed terms from the Pac-12 that included projected annual revenue numbers ($10-15M), a five-year grant of rights and only partial coverage of an AAC exit fee that is believed to be around $25 million per school. None of this was unexpected as Yahoo Sports reported on Friday.
The Pac-12 plans to continue its pursuit of new expansion members with the goal of adding more programs as Oregon State and Washington State work to reach eight members. The schools added Boise State, Colorado State, San Diego State and Fresno State last week.
A group of potential expansion members including UNLV and Utah State has already seen the league’s expansion presentation.
Yet another, Air Force, has committed to remaining in the Mountain West Conference after discussions with the Pac-12 and AAC.
MWC commissioner Gloria Nevarez is trying to secure long-term commitments to the league from its member schools. The league set a Monday deadline for schools to agree to the new grant of rights.
