this has been discussed a number of times

1. as was already pointed out the Big 12 only lost 2 teams in 2010 and was not looking to add anyone immediately

2. the factor that people refuse to understand or believe and that has been backed up by a link from a Louisville fan in another thread discussing this on the forum is that Louisville was not looking to leave the Big East when the Big 12 needed to immediately add two schools

Louisville was looking to stay in the Big East for the full time period required in the contract and that did not work for the Big 12 that needed two teams immediately

in that link posted on this site the Louisville AD admits they were caught off guard when the Big East started to fully crumble around them and that they did not expect that at all and that changed things for them very quickly

3. at the time the Big 12 had a brand new tier 2 contract with Fox that only paid for and also REQUIRED 10 teams so the Big 12 needed two teams immediately.....it is well known and well documented that Louisville was intent to give the Big East the full multi-year notice and that did not work for the Big 12

The Big 12 also had the ESPN tier 1 contract that was still in place for 5 years and that paid a lot less than their new tier 2 contract with Fox even though AT THAT TIME the Big 12 tier 1 contract with ESPN still paid for 12 teams and a CCG

so the Big 12 would have been taking a financial hit on BOTH contracts that at the time only paid a total of $150 million per year ($15 million a year for each team in a 10 team conference)

so there was not a financial incentive for the Big 12 to expand beyond 10 since the brand new tier 2 contract only paid foe (and required) 10 teams and the tier 1 contact was going to stay in place for another 5 years even though it had been for 12 teams and with a CCG

4. it was not until 6 months after TCU and WVU were added that the Big 12 renegotiated the tier 1 contract with ESPN and the money was significantly raised

that was in Sept of 2012 and then in Nov of 2012 it was announced that Louisville was going to the ACC so it is pretty clear that there was not a chance for the Big 12 to reach out to Louisville and offer them a place because Louisville was already working with the ACC

but again it was made clear in the articles posted on this forum that Louisville was intent on staying in the Big East for the full exit period and that in another article posted that Louisville was not looking to jump from the Big East

I don't think this is the article (posted in another thread also started by you)

http://louisvilleky.com/why-louisville-a...he-big-12/

https://csnbbs.com/thread-805705-page-4.html

but the above article makes clear that powerful people at Louisville were not looking to the Big 12 as their last and only hope nor were they looking at the Big East as a place they had to immediately leave especially in 2010

perhaps the Louisville fan will again post that other article (that I believe was an interview with the AD) that makes it clear that Louisville was caught flat footed by the total collapse of the Big East and that they were not begging to get into the Big 12 and they only started to seriously talk with the Big 12 once it was clear the Big East was collapsing and by then it was pretty much too late to get Louisville AND another team into the Big 12 and that WVU was pretty much going to be the 10th

and then between the time that happened and people thought more might happen with the Big 12 the Big 10 pulled Maryland from the ACC and things changed for Louisville to have choices