While neither side has formally marked the "yes" or "no" box, it appears this relationship is still in the "maybe" stage.
"We have not heard a thing and we have not approached them and they have not approached us," said Andy Haggard, the chair of FSU's Board of Trustees. "If anybody approaches us, we are certainly going to listen to them. We have an obligation to Florida State to listen. You can't close the door."
The door to a possible relationship may begin to open this week when the Big 12 conducts its annual meetings in Kansas City, Mo.
Though it appears unlikely Big 12 representatives will offer any public acknowledgement of expansion talks, the meetings will allow the league to decide whether it wants to explore another round of additions just one year after accepting TCU and West Virginia as new members.
Those additions helped offset the defections of Texas A&M and Missouri, which will compete as members of the Southeastern Conference beginning this fall. The Big 12 also saw former member schools Nebraska (Big 10) and Colorado (PAC 12) compete in their new conferences this past year.
The meetings may also help shed some light on the league's revised television contract.
Sports Business Journal reported two months ago the Big 12 had finalized a deal that would pay each of its member schools $20 million annually, but no deal has been announced. That has fueled rumors that the league may be waiting to see if expansion may add even more revenue to the contract.
The Big 12's television contract - and its payouts to member schools - is certainly a topic FSU stakeholders will find interesting.
The FSU athletics department's board of directors approved earlier this month a 2012-13 budget that contains a $2.4-million shortfall.
Apparently, Florida State's money woes run even deeper than that. The Democrat has learned that the department is unlikely to balance its 2011-12 budget, which closes June 30.
FSU's budget issues will get a boost from the Atlantic Coast Conference's new television deal with ESPN/ABC that will pay each school an average of $17.1 million annually - a significant jump from the $12.9 million league teams received this past year.
But the ACC payouts will not jump to that $17.1 million payout in the first year of the contract and will instead escalate annually beginning with a $1.2 million increase this year.
The Big 12's current contract pays out about $15 million annually. But according to the terms of their entry to the conference, new members West Virginia and TCU only receive 50 percent of what other league schools are paid this year. It will take several years of escalating payments until the two schools earn a full share.
That revenue sharing - as well as a $20-million buyout from the ACC - would be a key focus of negotiations should FSU consider a move to the Big 12.
In spite of the uncertainty of how FSU would fare financially with a conference move, several key decision-makers - including Haggard and head football coach Jimbo Fisher - are open to Big 12 talks because of their concerns with the ACC's position as a major player in the BCS.
The BCS announced in April it would consider voting in a playoff system when its members meet June 20. Both Haggard and Fisher, multiple sources have said, are afraid that the ACC could be left out of a proposed four-team playoff. Their fear is based in part on the speculation that the conference champions from the Big Ten, Big 12, PAC 12 and SEC would have favorable placement in three of the four playoff spots.
Haggard, however, repeated to the Democrat that he has had no discussions with the Big 12 and would not comment specifically on any rumors linking FSU to the Big 12.
"There are so many rumors and so many things out there," Haggard said. "There's nothing to talk about really."
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomCollegeSports-TopStories/~3/wuLNFOUdyGA/1
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