by Chad Haynie

HOUSTON – The presidents and chancellors of Southeastern Conference member institutions decided to not decide anything today relative to league expansion. Texas A&M was reported by multiple sources to be joining the conference as early as Monday.

While the conference did not invite Texas A&M University to the league at today’s meeting, the presidents and chancellors did not say ‘no’ to the Aggies, just deciding now was not the right time to extend an invitation.

The decision does not mean Texas A&M will not eventually be a member of the SEC, in fact it could still join the conference as early as July of 2012. It seems the conference is putting a priority on how it is perceived throughout this process, which could have more to do with possible legal ramifications. The Big 12 could attempt to file a lawsuit against the SEC for financial damages, especially if Fox decides to terminate its $1 billion plus television contract if one or two schools depart for the SEC.

Even with the conference’s statement today, don’t be surprised to see the Texas A&M Board of Regents still vote to authorize university president R. Bowen Loftin to move the school to another athletic conference. The decision would not take the school out of the Big 12, at least not for the time being. What it would do is give Loftin the authority to ask the SEC for an invitation to join the conference. It is believed that the conference wants Texas A&M to request an invitation, rather than giving the appearance that the SEC poached the Aggies out of another conference.

It is now known that Loftin reinitiated talks with SEC Commissioner Mike Slive three weeks ago, stating Texas A&M regretted not pulling the trigger when the SEC extended an invitation last summer. The Aggies had their bags packed last year and pulled out at the last minute when Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe put together the aforementioned television agreement with Fox and ESPN.

Another snag in the expediency of expansion is likely the process of having a plan in place, most likely for another institution to join the conference with Texas A&M to keep the SEC at an even 14 members. While rumors ran wild on schools the conference had supposed been talking to, it became quite apparent things have not gone past Texas A&M at this point in time.

Those wanting the SEC to stay with 12 schools are rejoicing right now, however they may not be celebrating for long. Today’s news leaves a lot of open possibilities. The term ‘future’ means any time after today, which means we could have an announcement two or three weeks from now. While things are not going as quick as many in the media said they would, the chances are still strong that Texas A&M will join the Southeastern Conference within the next few years.

Sit back and take a deep breath, because we’re far from being finished with conference expansion talk. Oh, and by the way, we’re 17 days away from kickoff!

 

Chad Haynie is the Sports Director at WVUA-FM
He can be reached at cwhaynie@ua.edu