How Houston, Memphis and UCF Have Pitched Their Schools to OSU and the Big 12

Several schools have thrown their hats into the ring for Big 12 expansion recently, including Cincinnati, Colorado State, Memphis, Houston, and now Central Florida. While these names are less than sexy, you have to give them an A for effort and creativity. Let’s take a look at each school and their approach to sell themselves to the Big 12.

Cincinnati

Promotional videos and Athletic Success. Cincy has brought the heat with a series of promo videos, sent to the Big 12 to show off why they belong. They actually make some very solid points in regards to their competition, including:

• Financial Commitment to excellence. UC has spent 300 million dollars to upgrade their existing athletic facilities in the past 10 years, and this year signed an impressive $50 million dollar apparel deal with Under Armour.
• Success In Football. It’s no secret which sport is the money-maker, and the Bearcats have made bowl games in 9 of their past 10 seasons, proving they should be able to compete at least for bowl appearances in the competitive Big 12. They also promote Tommy Tuberville, whose claim to fame is his 2004 undefeated season as the head coach at Auburn.
• Don’t forget about Basketball. Five NCAA appearances in a row have kept Cincy hoops relevant, thanks to the success of head coach Mick Cronin.
• Cincinnati’s TV Market. The Bearcats play in a 2 million person city, including the a top 25 market for both football and basketball. This would provide a nice bump for Big 12 viewership whenever Cincy plays.

Houston

Personal Tour and TV Ratings. West Virginia president Gordon Gee is on the Big 12 Composition committee, and flew to Houston several weeks ago to meet with Houston officials regarding Big 12 membership. Gee met with Houston’s president Renu Khator and AD Hunter Yurachek for several hours, including a tour of the athletic facilities and lunch with the school regents.

Camden Property Trust CEO Ric Campo was a part of the meeting, who played a key role in Houston’s selection for the 2017 Sugar Bowl. Khator’s major selling point was the location, and that Houston’s TV market dwarfs that of its prospective Big 12 competitors.

Colorado State

Number of In-State Big 12 Alumni. Colorado State provided a 12-page brochure to Big 12 officials selling their academic status and fundraising ($1 billion fundraising campaign starting spring 2016, after $1.3 billion campus infrastructure improvements since 2010 and status on US News ranking of top tier public universities).

However, perhaps their most interesting sell is that existing Big 12 schools have more than 52,000 alumni in Colorado already, including over 30,000 in the Denver area, according to LinkedIn. The addition of CSU, they argue, would bring quite a bit of interest to the Big 12 alumni living nearby, which have been stagnant since University of Colorado’s departure to the Pac-12.

Memphis

FedEx, Financial Investment, and Justin Timberlake. Memphis put CSU’s 12-page brochure to shame with a whopping 42-page document that highlights several major pluses for UM:

• FedEx. The Memphis-based shipping company is reportedly willing to become a sponsor to the Big 12 conference if UM is selected, and only if UM is selected for the Big 12. Chairman Fred Smith even went as far as to say the following in regards to sponsorship:

“We strongly support the university’s efforts to become a member of an expanded Big 12 athletic conference,” Smith writes to Rudd in a letter dated Feb. 23. “In support of (Memphis’) Big 12 aspirations, we have researched college conference sponsorships and are prepared to become a major Big 12 sponsor of football and basketball.”

• Financial Investment. Memphis has committed 500 million in both “academic and athletic infrastructure” in the next 5 years, on top of the FedEx package.
• Justin Timberlake? The Memphis native and worldwide icon was quoted in a Memphis publication sent out describing the soul of the city and its value — check out the publication for yourself here.

Central Florida

Orlando’s population and economic growth. University of Central Florida’s president John Hitt made the case this week for the schools inclusion to the Big 12 in a letter to none other than Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis. His selling point? Orlando’s growth.

He promises that UCF could expand its 45,000 Bright House Networks stadium to 65,000 if selected, and that Orlando provides much more potential economically than Cincinnati or Hartford (University of Connecticut, another candidate.) Orlando is, according to the report, expected to grow in population 6x more quickly than Cincy, and 500x more quickly than Hartford, according to a Tallahassee based economic analysis firm.

All of the schools listed above note separate strengths, but a consistent theme rings true for all contenders — financial commitment to athletic facilities and strength of their respective markets. While it is not a given that the Big 12 will expand anytime soon, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has hinted the presidents could hold a vote for expansion by the end of this summer. While the split into two divisions is a given, it will be interesting to see who, if any, are chosen to join the Big 12 conference.