There is no hard-and-fast rule saying that if a conference expands (or contracts) to 11 members, it has to add a 12th member. In the 2022-2023 college sports cycle (the one which will end on June 30), the American Athletic Conference has had 11 members.
(For the record, those members were UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, and Wichita State. UCF, Cincinnati and Houston will compete in the Big 12 in the 2023-2024 cycle which begins on July 1 and includes the 2023 college football season.)
However, having 12 teams instead of 11 makes scheduling easier in various sports and reduces various logistical challenges. In the Pac-12’s case, it would add television money.
John Canzano, at his Substack, talked to sources in the Pac-12 and at SMU. Here’s his latest work on the San Diego State-SMU situation:
“Would the Pac-12 add San Diego State via expansion but not SMU? Maybe, but I find it increasingly unlikely. A source on campus at the Dallas-based institution told me the Pac-12 continued to engage with SMU after the Kliavkoff visit,” Canzano reported.
“Unless I am missing something, the media-rights range I keep hearing doesn’t work without the DFW television households included. Also, SMU is so intensely motivated to join that it would definitely join at a discount.
“As one well-placed source at SMU told me on Friday morning: ‘My sense continues to be that we will be included if they expand.’”
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