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The Memphis Tigers are currently proud members of the American Conference. The school shared a message on social media to celebrate a league name change ahead of the 2025-26 academic year.
Unfortunately, the timing of that online post couldn’t have been worse. Memphis’s response to the rebrand gave second-hand embarrassment as it followed news that they’d been rejected by the Big 12.
The Tigers reportedly came to the conference with a $200 million bid. They’d hoped to follow in the footsteps of BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston with a move up to the Power 4 level. They were, however, rejected.
“The University of Memphis is aware of the recent conversations regarding our potential inclusion in the Big 12,” the school said in a statement. “While those discussions did not ultimately go in our favor, our university and Memphis athletics are stronger than ever.”
Memphis is not Big 12 material.
More from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports:
The proposal from Memphis — one of the most aggressive membership propositions in college athletics history — features hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship commitments to the Big 12 from UM-affiliated corporate partners, as well as the school eschewing revenue distribution from the league for at least five years…
Memphis president Bill Hardgrave has spent at least 14 months visiting with the presidents and top athletic administrators of many Big 12 schools in individual, on-campus meetings that have culminated in a membership offer to the league that is expected to be as high as $200 million over the next five years.
Big 12 officials are in the midst of exploring the proposal, but league-wide support is not there… Any expansion move needs the support of a super majority of the league’s presidents and chancellors, or 12 of the 16.
Big 12 administrators are reportedly uninterested in the prospects of adding the Tigers, even at the $200 million price tag.
“We vetted Memphis when we added the other four [Cincinnati, UCF, Houston and BYU] and chose not to add them,” one conference leader said. “What’s changed now?”
Where will the Tigers go?
According to Dellenger, the PAC 12 has expressed interest. In fact, they’ve gone as far as to offer a terms sheet. In that instance, it was Memphis that rejected.
The PAC-12, of course, all but died after losing 10 of 12 members to conference realignment.
For now, the Tigers are stuck in the American Conference, which rebranded this week. The league is dropping the “Athletic” from its previous American Athletic Conference title.
Proud member of the American Conference Ⓜ️#GoTigersGo | @American_Conf pic.twitter.com/rMHJt3476G
— Memphis Tigers (@TigersAthletics) July 21, 2025
Memphis showed support of the move, which will take the league into a “new era” of college athletics. No one said they were happy about it, though!
The sad post led to a flood of response on social media.
“You sure about that?” asked one follower. “We were just kidding!” wrote another.
— 💯KnightmarishJ💯 (@KnightmarishJ) July 21, 2025
The series of events couldn’t have gone much worse for the Tigers. Hours after the Big 12 news leaked, Memphis was forced to backtrack under the guise of conference pride.
The university will remain a member of The American for the time being. We’ll see if they have another escape plan waiting to be executed.