Insider Reveals Why Tulane Sports Might Not be on Pac-12’s Top Expansion Tier

The Pac-12 Conference may have a TV deal in the next couple of weeks and after that, expansion could follow.

Sep 4, 2021; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; The logo of the Tulane Green Wave is displayed on the field before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The Pac-12 Conference is still interested in expansion and the league may be waiting to get its new TV deal before making more moves.

League insider John Canzano, who is based in Oregon and writes at his “The Bald Truth” substack, reported that the Pac-12 is hoping to wrap up its media piece in the next couple of weeks. That includes the football package for current members Oregon State and Washington State, and then the larger deal for the re-made league starting in the 2026-27 season.

That new look includes eight members, including Gonzaga. That presents a problem for the league, which needs eight football playing members to remain NCAA affiliated and the Bulldogs don’t play football.

The expansion candidates to take that last spot, or spots if the league wants to expand further, really haven’t changed, per Canzano. But he attempted to tier those candidates based on his own opinion of which ones were the best candidates.

If Tulane is interested in the Pac-12, Canzano doesn’t see them as a top-tier candidate. He called UNLV, Memphis and Texas State as the “obvious” top three candidates.

Tulane was part of a second tier that included UTSA.

So why weren’t the Green Wave on his top tier? He admitted that part of it was his bias toward geography. But he also revealed a conversation with an athletic director that led him to believe that some value it, too.

“I had one Pac-12 athletic director tell me he wasn’t interested in shipping athletes in Olympic sports to multiple time zones,” he reported. “That recent comment cooled me on the South Florida, Memphis, and Tulane possibilities.”

He did write that the potential for adding a school like Tulane as a football and basketball member only might boost the Green Wave’s chances. The question then would be where the rest of Tulane’s sports would land?

Most FBS conference require their schools to play all of its sports in the conference, unless it’s a sport the conference doesn’t sponsor. That was the reason the American Athletic Conference gave for not keeping UConn as a football member when it wanted to return to the Big East Conference for basketball.

All but one of the Pac-12’s new members is coming from the Mountain West Conference. The league did show interest in several American Athletic Conference members last year, but in late September those programs as a group — including Tulane, Memphis, USF and UTSA — turned down the offer.

Tulane athletic director David Harris said that uncertainty around the Pac-12 future led to the decision.