With recent rumors swirling that the Pac-12, who added six new members following the conference’s reshuffling in 2024, is targeting Texas State, ESPN analysts Pete Thamel and Kyle Bonagura have revealed another surprising option to fill the conference to NCAA standards.
Once thought to be completely out, due to financial reasons, Memphis is now being thrown into the ring as a potential “football-only member”, as reported by the ESPN analysts. If this happens, how would it affect football? Where would the Tigers’ other teams play?
Memphis Mulls Pac-12 Addition Amid Other Potential Conference Moves
The Pac-12 Conference is busy reconfiguring itself and seeking to add more teams to boost its visibility back to its former glory, and Memphis’s football team has emerged as a potential addition to re-secure FBS conference status.
The news comes after ESPN’s Pete Thamel mentioned the Tigers in an article about the possibility of Texas State receiving a formal invitation from the Pac-12, which is expected to add one to six members within the upcoming months.
“In many ways, Memphis looms as the most interesting chess piece for future realignment outside of the power leagues,” he wrote.
The industry is bracing for a ripple of realignment, sources tell me/@BonaguraESPN.
>*Texas State is the heavy favorite to join the Pac-12
>*Louisiana Tech is the favorite to replace Texas State in Sun Belt.
>*What’s next for Memphis?
>*What’s CUSA ripple? https://t.co/7EfPj9WuNT— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) June 16, 2025
In his tweet promoting the story, Thamel wrote that “Texas State is a ‘heavy favorite’ to join the Pac-12. If the Bobcats were to join, the conference’s football members would be at eight.
Memphis is considered to have the best overall athletic department in the Group of Five. Its football team was ranked at No. 24 in the final AP national rankings after head coach Ryan Silverfield led them to an 11-2 season during the 2024 campaign. Already, the school has begun the second phase of its $220 million renovation on its home field.
Acordding to the article, Memphis would consider making the move to be a split conference with its football program potentially joining a conference like the Pac-12, while the rest of its athletic teams join a conference like the Big East.
AAC buyout requirements dictate that schools looking to leave the conference must give 27 months’ notice and pay $10 million. SMU, which was in the AAC, left for the ACC but had to pay out $25 million to do so while leaving with only 10 months’ notice.
KEEP READING: PFSN College Football Playoff Predictor
Memphis’ athletic director Ed Scott has been adamant about getting the program into one of the power conferences, but Thamel notes there is no set timetable.
It’s also not a secret that one of the power conferences is a more attractive destination for Scott, and there has been talk of the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big 12 expanding again in about five years, according to Commerical Appeal.
“Travel-wise, it would be about 20,000 miles that our teams would have to travel in order to compete with the seven schools that are in there,” Memphis athletic director Ed Scott said in September after Memphis turned down an offer to join the Pac-12, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I just don’t think that was the right thing to do based on the finances we had. Now, if there was more money involved… that’s a different conversation.” The Tigers did receive $11 million from the AAC for the 2024 season.
While no official plans have been made by Memphis yet, it is becoming increasingly likely that Texas State could be the next football member of the Pac-12.
