Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe will propose to the Division I Board of Directors this week that football teams with .500 records be considered for bowl participation without having to meet other conditions.

Beebe, who will ask the Board to introduce the proposal into the 2009-10 legislative cycle, said it is necessary to ensure enough eligible teams to fill the 68 available bowl slots.

Current rules allow 6-6 teams to be considered for bowl participation, but only if the team’s conference has a contractual affiliation and all teams with winning records are placed in other games or all teams with winning records have received bowl invitations. The proposal would eliminate those exceptions and allow teams with 6-6 records to be considered immediately.

“Our feeling is that a 6-6 team from the Big 12 that has played five teams in the top 25 should not be in a different position from a 7-5 team from another conference that may have only played one or no teams in the top 25,” Beebe said. “The six-win team is probably more marketable in some cases than the others, so it should be treated the same.”

Beebe said he wants the proposal to be considered before next spring, when bowl licenses for 2010 are considered. He said the Big 12 did not introduce the legislation by the July 15 deadline for conference-sponsored proposals because the issue didn’t emerge until the Collegiate Commissioners Association met this fall.

If the Board agrees to sponsor the Big 12 proposal in the current cycle, the legislation will receive initial consideration from the Division I Legislative Council at the NCAA Convention in January.