By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
West Virginia University will become a member of the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2012. The Big 12's Board of Directors met Friday morning on a conference call and unanimously voted to accept the school located in Morgantown, W.Va. Late Friday afternoon, a teleconference with the media offered details and answers to various questions and issues.
West Virginia's start date
West Virginia is currently a member of the Big East Conference, which recently lost Pitt and Syracuse to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Big East bylaws stipulate a $5 million exit fee and a 27-month notification period. In less than 10 months, the Big 12 and West Virginia plan on being full-fledged partners.
"By July 1 we'll be a member of the Big 12," West Virginia president James Clements said Friday afternoon. "We're in discussions with the Big East regarding how we make that happen."
When pressed for details, Clements declined to comment.
Clements said that West Virginia sent a letter to the Big East Friday morning informing the conference that it planned to withdraw and join the Big 12. He said that $2.5 million (half the exit fee) had been wired to the Big East. The remaining $2.5 will be paid once West Virginia's departure becomes final.
Grant of media rights
The grant of first- and second-tier media rights is considered a crucial step in furthering the stability of the Big 12. The grant of rights essentially means the Conference owns its member schools media rights; if a school decides to leave for another conference, the rights remain with the Big 12 for the length of the agreement.
Interim commissioner Chuck Neinas confirmed that the continuing Conference members had agreed to signing a six-year grant of rights.
"We're circulating the grant of rights agreement as we speak," Oklahoma State president and Big 12 board chairman Burns Hargis said Friday afternoon. "We expect final approval at our next meeting Tuesday."
Neinas confirmed that Missouri has not agreed to sign the grant of rights agreement.
Further expansion
By adding West Virginia, the Big 12 assures itself of at least 10 members for the 2012-13 season. That was crucial in terms of fulfilling the Conference's alotment of games for its television partners. The TV contracts call for a certain number of conference games to be available for telecast.
Neinas said the Big 12 membership is conent to remain at 10 members.
"Right now there is no sentiment for the Big 12 to go back to a championship game, for adding teams to be able to do that," Neinas said. "We have 10 schools, we have a round-robin football schedule and we have a true champion. Our directive was to move forward with 10 teams. We've got our house in order. We've got everybody signed up.
"Adding West Virginia helps the Big 12 look toward the future. We're not done yet and I'm not talking about expansion. I'm talking about the future. We're solid and moving forward."
Missouri's status
The news release issued by the Big 12 said: Beginning with the 2012-13 season it is expected that the Big 12 Conference will be comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
Missouri, which is currently a member of the Big 12, was not listed. Missouri has yet to inform the Big 12 of an unconditional withdrawal that could lead to it accepting an invitation to join the Southeastern Conference.
"Any quetions about Missouri should be directed to the people at Missouri," Big 12 interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said. "Until Missouri withdraws, member of Big 12. I have no information on their timeline."
Football scheduling for 2011
After Texas A&M's departure to the SEC, the Big 12 added TCU. If, as expected, Missouri follows Texas A&M, then West Virginia is the Big 12's 10th team. However, the football schedule for 2011 won't be just plugging in TCU in place of A&M and West Virginia in place of Missouri.
"I wish it was as simple as that," Neinas said. "We'll have to take a look at the schedule. There will be some re-calcualation. But, we might not have to start from scratch. There will be some work to be done."
The early week pause
After a Big 12 board of directors meeting Monday, it appeared that West Virginia's invitation/acceptance would be announced as soon as Wednesday. The announcement was delayed until Friday, which caused some nervousness.
"From our perspective we felt confident based on our discussions with the Big 12," West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck said. "We were patient that things would work out. Yes, there was a little bit of nervousness earlier this week. We're glad it's been finalized."
The delay involved the uncertainty regarding Missouri's conference affiliation for the 2012-13 season.
"We were moving forward with West Virginia but also having to look at the possibility of being an 11-member conference," Neinas said. "We had to pause to make sure that we could accomodate 11 schools, if we could play an 11-team schedule in football next season. We were still waiting on Missouri's decision but we also need to assure ourselves we would have 10 members for next season in order to fulfill our contractual obligations."
Other notes and comments
* Neinas confirmed that West Virginia's revenue sharing plan as a new member of the Big 12 will be the same as TCU's.
* Oklahoma State president and Big 12 Board of Directors chairman Burns Hargis: "We are just simply thrilled to welcome West Virginia into the Big 12 Conference. West Virginia is the flagship university in that state, it has wonderful academic and athletic heritage, they compete fairly on the field and do things right. They have all the qualities and the culture that we look for."
* West Virginia president James Clements: "We have a saying here after a big win - 'It's a great day to be a Mountaineer.' Believe me when I say it's truly a great day to be a Mountaineer and a member of the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 is very strong. It's a real privilege to be invited and joining the Big 12 is a long-term investment for WVU. ... You've got a lot of happy people around Mountaineer Nation if measured by the number of phone calls, e-mails and texts from around the country. People are really, really excited."
* West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck: "We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to join a tremendous conference. We look forward to being a productive member. This is an enormous challenge for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators and our fans. As always, we have the utmost confidence in Mountaineer Nation to respond and meet the challenge."
* Clements on the future and stability of the Big 12: "I view the Big 12 as very solid and very stable and a perfect fit for us. We're not concerned at all."