Big 12 has big plans, and one could be a gateway for Fresno State in conference expansion
The Big 12 is exploring more than just adding West Coast schools and late-night TV windows during the football season. It also has its sights set on opening international markets and playing basketball and football games in Mexico, which could shed some light on the conference’s interest in Fresno State as a potential expansion partner.
The population of Fresno County is 55.9% Hispanic or Latino, which closely mirrors university enrollment (54.7%), and the university has deep and longstanding ties to universities in Mexico.
Fresno State president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval acknowledged he has had ongoing talks with the Big 12, and noted the university’s pride in being a Hispanic-serving institution. “Our strong media market and demographically diverse fan base would give us a unique advantage in this effort,” he told The Bee.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark teased a vision for Big 12 Mexico and other ventures to increase visibility, marketability and revenues last month in a podcast with Tunrkey ZRG, ideas he had taken into meetings during the interview process with the conference’s board of directors.
“Most importantly, we want to drive meaningful revenue that we can disperse back to our member institutions,” Yormark said on the podcast. “Music is also a big part of where we’re going and on that 10-point list I talked about a concert tour, which we’re going to be announcing here in the next couple weeks. We talk about an international strategy and I’m heading to Mexico in fact later this month and our goal is to launch Big 12 Mexico.
“Many of the ideas that we outlined during that interview process we are executing against and I think they’re a point of differentiation for us, when you think about the kind of things that we’re doing and the other conferences. Not to say we’re better or worse, but they differentiate us and hopefully they give people a reason to vote yes for the Big 12.”
Yormark was in Mexico last week scouting basketball and football venues for potential conference matchups, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.
The university is in a holding pattern on conference expansion while the Big 12 waits out the Pac-12 as it negotiates its next media rights deal. But if the Pac-12 sticks together minus UCLA and USC, which are bolting for the Big Ten in 2024, and none of its institutions are willing to jump to the Big 12, then geography and demographics would be at the heart of the Bulldogs’ case for inclusion in a conference expansion.
An industry source said Fresno State has pushed both in its discussions with Big 12 officials.
Geography, demographics a plus for Fresno State
Yormark has made no secret of his desire to build a conference that runs from coast to coast, targeting the 7:30 p.m. West Coast television time slots during the football season.
It made a move west after Oklahoma and Texas ditched the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference, adding Brigham Young along with Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston.
If no Pac-12 schools are willing to bolt (and the expectation is the conference will stick together, if it lands a competitive media rights deal), the best West Coast expansion candidates would include Fresno State, San Diego State and UNLV. The value in those late TV time slots is there whether it is a Pac-12 program or the Bulldogs filling it, according to Bob Thompson, the former president of Fox Sports Networks.
“I think the 7:30 p.m. Pacific window is of enough value for the Big 12 to go after a non-Power Five school to be able to consistently play in the window,” Thompson said in an interview with The Bee last November.
“The cable sports networks like to have games in that window. There’s not as much competition at that time, as well. At most you have a Pac-12 game and maybe a Mountain West game in that window on a consistent basis. If the Big 12 wants to be truly national in scope, it’s going to need to have some schools from the Pacific time zone.”
The Bulldogs play in the middle of San Joaquin Valley TV markets that rank No. 20 (Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto), No. 55 (Fresno-Visalia) and No. 125 (Bakersfield) in the nation.
But the demographics of the region could play for the Big 12.
Fresno State has a formal letter of cooperation with the Sovereign State of Oaxaca government, and the Division of Continuing and Global Education has a student exchange agreement with the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara. The university has a memorandum of understanding with the Universidad Juarez Autonoma De Tabasco, and the College of Social Science is home to the Chicano and Latin American Studies program which has faculty conducting research areas that focus on Mexico.
It also is home to the student dance group Los Danzantes, and on Saturday Fresno State is hosting its second Mariachi Festival at the Save Mart Center, featuring popular bands from Mexico.
The event last year raised more than $100,000 to support student scholarships.
