AP source: Big 12 set to vote on adding four schools
The Big 12 is moving swiftly to plug the holes looming with the upcoming departure of Oklahoma and Texas for the Southeastern Conference.
A person familiar with the Big 12’s expansion plans said the conference’s
presidents are scheduled to vote on applications for entry into the league at a meeting Friday. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the Big 12 has not been publicly disclosing its discussions about rebuilding the conference in preparation of Texas and Oklahoma leaving in 2025.
Along with UCF and Cincinnati, the Big 12 identified BYU and Houston as its primary expansion targets last week and then moved quickly to make it happen.
Trustees at UCF and Cincinnati have scheduled special meetings Friday related to conference membership. Both of those schools, along with BYU and Houston, are expected to receive invitations to join the Big 12.
The moves come six weeks after the SEC invited Texas and Oklahoma to join its league in time for the 2025-26 season, though there remains the possibility that could happen sooner. For now though, the Big 12 appears focused on the additions and not how to facilitate the exits of the Longhorns and Sooners.
UCF, Houston and Cincinnati are in the American Athletic Conference, which requires members to give 27 months’ notice if they plan to leave the league. BYU is an independent in football and part of the West Coast Conference for basketball and Olympic sports.
The Longhorns and Sooners have said they will honor their current contracts with the Big 12 and do not plan to join the SEC until 2025, when the conference’s current television rights contracts with ESPN and Fox run out.
If that holds true, the Big 12 could have up to 14 members for at least a season or two.
FIFA unveils biennial World Cup plan, UEFA threatens boycott
NYON, Switzerland — FIFA detailed its plan for reshaping international soccer around playing the men’s World Cup every two years despite European opposition that could lead to a boycott.
Joined by retired greats, FIFA unveiled the proposal Thursday but the pushback from Europe was immediate as UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed it could launch a boycott by its teams which have dominated soccer’s marquee event since Brazil won in 2002.
“We can decide not to play in it,” Ceferin said in an interview with British daily The Times.
About 80 former internationals including World Cup winners went to Qatar for two days of FIFA-hosted talks and emerged with consensus for playing the tournament twice as often.
“We all agreed with the new proposal of the calendar,” said Brazil great Ronaldo, who went to four World Cups and won twice. He described FIFA’s proposal as “just amazing.”
Still, European soccer leader Ceferin said “as far as I know, the South Americans are on the same page” with resisting FIFA’s plan.
“So good luck with a World Cup like that,” Ceferin told The Times in the latest UEFA vs. FIFA fight since 2016 when he and Gianni Infantino were elected to the respective presidencies.
Infantino and his allies have since 2018 floated the idea of a biennial World Cup which European soccer has viewed as a commercial and competitive threat to its club and national team events.
Arsene Wenger has led the project since FIFA hired the former Arsenal coach last year to be its director of global development.
Rose boosts Ryder Cup hopes with solid start at Wentworth
VIRGINIA WATER, England — Justin Rose needs to win the BMW PGA Championship to qualify automatically for a fifth straight appearance at the Ryder Cup.
The Englishman is off to a strong start in that quest.
Rose shot a bogey-free, 5-under 67 and was three shots off the first-round lead shared by Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout, two players for whom the specter of Ryder Cup qualification does not matter this week.
The European Tour’s flagship event at its headquarters at Wentworth, southwest of London, marks the final chance for Ryder Cup hopefuls to earn points to get into the final places on offer for the match against United States at Whistling Straits this month.
Rose, ranked No. 45, is most likely relying on a captain’s pick by Padraig Harrington and he did his cause no harm by making three birdies in his first six holes and also picking up a shot on the par-5 18th. He was tied for fourth place.