Fox is pushing for expansion, wants new TV markets

Interesting day in Big 12 Expansion..

First, the rumor monger MHver3 posted this on Twitter:

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@MHver3
So hearing now that Fox supporting B12 expansion and ESPN pushing against.

@MHver3
But Fox telling B12 if ESPN doesn't want their contract on next renewal then fix would be more than happy to take it all.

@MHver3
And surprise surprise: Fox wants 4 teams. BYU and 3 in the east.

@MHver3
Fox also offering to keep pro rata in the contract in case B12 wants to expand again later on.

@MHver3
But fox wants at least 12 more years and a new GOR

@MHver3
Fox trying to persuade B12 to add a Florida school. Wants exposure for Fox in that market

@MHver3
Fox executives telling B12 that if we expand then Pac12 will be the next to expand with at least 2 G5s.

Then I saw this story posted as well:

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FOX Continues Support for Big 12 Expansion with G5 Teams

FOX has been one of the leading proponents of Big 12 expansion over the last year as the network tries to get more college sports to air across its family of channels. This has been discussed repeatedly in the past, because FOX Sports only has the tier 1 TV rights to the Big 12 and Pac-12. Meanwhile, ESPN has tier 1 rights to the SEC, ACC, partial Big Ten, BYU, The American and many others.

This means that the only football program east of the Mississippi under contract with FOX for tier 1 television rights is West Virginia. FOX wants more product to air in the Eastern time zone. The network wants more product to air, period. The other option is to pay ESPN for content to air and no business wants to pay its competitor for their product.


http://www.bcsnn.com/big-xii/9221-fox-continues-support-for-big-12-expansion-with-g5-teams.html

So let's take a few points:

1 - Fox wants more inventory and are willing to overpay to get it.

2 - Fox owns the Pac 12 contract and the Pac 12 is likely to add "at least 2 G5s"

3 - Fox clearly wants new markets east of the Mississippi.

Now, this is the Internet and it could easily be worth the paper it's printed on... but if these three points are to be believed then here is where I think we are heading:

1 - The Big 12 will add 4 teams in new markets. Cincinnati, Memphis, and at least one team from Florida.  The fourth team might be a bit foggy - a 2nd Florida team, Tulane, UConn.

2 - Because Fox wants more markets, and Big 12 teams don't want more power in Texas, I don't see Houston being added.

3 - The Pac 12 will be forced to take BYU and possibly Colorado State. It makes sense because Utah and Colorado don't have a "twin" like every other Pac school does (USC-UCLA, Arizona-ASU, Oregon-OSU, Cal-Stanford, and Washington-Wazzu).  Pac 12 might also explore Houston and SMU as a pair as well.