Temple Is Trying to Get Into the Big 12

The Owls are one of 17 teams that are vying to join the conference, which is generally based in the Midwest. They're seen as a long shot.

Temple’s athletic team is trying to join the big boys.

There are five “power conferences” in college sports: ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. A school from one of these conferences always wins the national championship in football, and usually in basketball, too. (This year notwithstanding on the latter.) As such, schools from the Power Five conferences collect the most money from media deals (and are on TV the most). If you want your school to get attention on TV, being in one of these conferences is the way to do it.

The Big 12 — which currently only has 10 members — is looking to expand. Temple has been interested for a while, a fact the Daily NewsDavid Murphy has mocked. It’s a tough sell: While Temple is certainly a large enough school to compete in the conference — it would be the second-largest school by enrollment — it doesn’t have the athletic pedigree to fit in.

But no matter: Now Temple will get to make its pitch to the conference for inclusion. ESPN’s Brett McMurphy reports the conference will conduct “video conferences” with the 17 schools attempting to join:

The 17 schools that will make their presentations to the Big 12 include Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, South Florida, UCF, UConn, Memphis, Colorado State, Boise State, Tulane, Temple, East Carolina, SMU and New Mexico, sources said.

The Big 12 is looking to expand to either 12 or 14 schools, though 12 is seen as more likely — the conference name would be correct again! Temple is seen as a long shot. But, hey, Temple beat Penn State last year. Anything is possible.

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