But that only happened after the school reportedly explored several alternatives. In addition to the possibility of drafting a pitcher from an expanding, repurposed Pac-12 — which was ultimately scrapped — Memphis contacted the Big East to gauge its interest in having the Tigers join basketball and other sports while joining the Pac-12 in football only, according to USA TODAY sports columnist Dan Wolken, citing three anonymous sources close to the talks.

This scenario obviously did not occur.

“… given the tight time frame, concerns about the suitability of the Big East team (the league consists entirely of private Catholic schools with the exception of UConn) and the lack of certainty about the money from the Pac-12, Memphis had no choice but to turn again to the AAC for the time being,” Wolken wrote.

In addition to the uncertainty surrounding a media rights deal with the Pac-12, another major hurdle for Memphis was the AAC exit fee and how much the Pac-12 would contribute to it. According to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, Memphis would have had to pay an exit fee of around $25 million, while the Pac-12 was only willing to pay $2.5 million.