[kstater]

30 mil plus 3rd tier? Guess that's ok for a conference in shambles.

On Thursday evening Cemetery Hill spoke with sources familiar with the discussion of Big 12 expansion and learned the following information:

- Per these sources Clemson and Florida State will likely join the Big 12 in all sports effective in 2013. At this time the Big 12 will only expand by two teams, and possibly look to add additional teams in 2014 or beyond.

- The new Big 12 commisioner will be announced on Friday as Bob Bowlsby, who is leaving his post as AD at Stanford. We would not expect Bowlsby or anyone associated with this rumored expansion to acknowledge anything right away.

- The new Big 12 TV contract with the two new schools to be added we're told will approach 30 million per team.

- Approximately 3.5 million of the 30 million will be derived from the conference championship game.

-The first Big 12 Championship with the two new teams will be played at Cowboy Stadium aka Jerry World.

- The Big 12 is expected to contribute 10 million dollars per team to the ACC's buyout of 20 million. This is similar to what the Big 12 did with West Virginia.

- Rumors of Clemson and Florida State using the Big 12 as leverage for an invitation to the SEC have been charaterized as pure speculation by sources, who indicated these programs are Big 12 bound. We were also told that a move could be very swift after the BCS meetings in June.

From a financial standpoint, it's hard to see how Clemson and Florida State could turn down a deal like this, assuming these numbers are indeed accurate. Furthermore, the spectre of the ACC being left out of the proposed 4 team, RPI driven playoff system, makes a move of this nature almost a requirement if schools like Clemson and Florida State wish to compete for a national title.

However, much rumor and speculation has occured in the last few years with respect to conference realignment and expansion, so some degree of caution should be exercised until a formal annoucement is issued. With that said, our sources indicated representatives from Clemson and Florida State have been in Texas for meetings with the Big 12, and it's only a matter of time before a formal invitation is made to join the Big 12.

Will there be counters by the ACC that make staying put more attractive? Would the SEC intervene to protect their turf and extend an offer to Clemson and FSU or do they pursue only "new SEC media markets" Will the new BCS playoff take away the Orange Bowl and ACC/Big East affiliation? No matter what happens, the next few months will certainly be interesting to watch.

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