God bless, open records laws and states with decent FOIA-esque laws.

I reviewed the ND moving its non-football sports to the Big 12  fan fiction at the beginning of the week. Now we have the source for the “facts” in the story.

In a January memo to the Big 12 expansion committee, interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said Notre Dame is the only school the Big 12 could add that would “enhance the Big 12 value for television.”

The memo, obtained by The Oklahoman through an Open Records request, was sent to the committee as an agenda for a late January teleconference.

The expansion committee is made up of Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and Kansas State president Kirk Shulz.

Reading through the article, you can see where the Orangebloods story got each nugget.

Notre Dame playing a certain amount of Big 12 schools each year? Right here:

Neinas said all three agreed a 10-member conference was preferred, but they would live with expansion to 11 or 12 teams. He also said both TV partners were in support of Notre Dame becoming a partial member of the Big 12 if the Irish would play a specific number of football games at Big 12 venues.

Which stands to reason since ESPN and Fox want to be able to air the games involving ND, but can only do that if the games are at Big 12 stadiums (or where the Big 12 team is designated the “home” team).

Louisville being a preferred option over say, Clemson? Check.

Nenias referenced a December meeting of athletic directors who were spit on the idea of expansion. He wrote that if the conference were to expand, there was strong support for the University of Louisville to become the Big 12’s 11th member.

And then there is the big reason why the Big 12 seems to have ND-fever.

Neinas’ response: “Both representatives of ESPN/ABC and Fox Sports indicated that Notre Dame’s involvement with the Big 12 Conference would increase the value of the conference relative to future television and also improve the image of the conference nationwide.”

What value would a new member bring to the conference?

Neinas’ response: “Our television partners agreed that the only new member that would enhance the Big 12 value for television was Notre Dame.”

Now, perhaps in January, they didn’t believe FSU would really consider jumping. On the other hand, it isn’t hard to see that as saying that the per-team payout would not be greatly increased — if at all — with FSU and any other school added.

As an aside, this sort of feedback that the Big 12 got from ESPN and Fox regarding value of certain new members, is likely along the lines of what BC’s AD, Gene DeFilippo meant when he talked of the ACC  being told what to do by ESPN. There is no doubt that the ACC would talk to ESPN about the economic value of adding certain teams — just as it is now apparent the Big 12 did. ESPN told them which teams would be the most valuable. The ACC made their decision — based on no small part — with that in mind.

Final thing to keep in mind. This info is from January. The leaks are only now happening. As sudden as expansiopocolypse seems at times. Or as fast as we want them to go. In the absence of a pressing need, they generally move at  a much slower and quiet pace. Too many ducks to line up in a row most of the time to move quickly.