Board of Regents chairman wants to threaten Houston's way into the Big 12
The chairman of Houston’s Board of Regents thinks the legislature should threaten to pull funding for Texas schools if the Big 12 doesn’t invite Houston to join the conference.
Tilman Fertitta, in a meeting with the Houston Chronicle's editorial board Thursday, said it was "an embarrassment" that the namesake university for the fourth-largest city in the United States had not already been asked to join the conference.
"Put pressure on the presidents; say, 'If you don't do this, we're not going to fund you for this,'" Fertitta told the editorial board. "It's just the way it is. That's the way to do it.
"Be a big boy, step up and put this school that has almost 50,000 students and is so high profile, has so many of the top schools in the United States, it's a tier one university -- we belong in the Big 12. We're a big, major school with an unbelievable history in athletics and academia."
The Big 12 is currently made up of 10 schools, but rumors about expansion have swirled, especially after the conference was left out of the inaugural College Football Playoff and criticized because it doesn’t play a conference championship game.
However, the conference also has applied for a waiver that would allow it to have a championship game with just 10 teams.
Fertitta’s empty threats and attempts at intimidation probably won’t go very far in terms of endearing Houston, which is currently in the AAC, to the Big 12 brass. The conference already boasts four teams from the state of Texas, including the flagship university, which pretty much covers the conference in terms of television revenue from the state.
It would make more sense for the conference to look at schools toward the east such as Cincinnati or UCF. Still, for any expansion to happen, the Big 12 would have to agree to give up some of the largest financial slices in college football to share with two other universities, and the league’s 10 members aren’t going to be so quick to do that.
For more Houston news, visit CougarsDen.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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