ESPN also reporting that Florida State and Clemson are thinking about joining. They also say Missouri is considering joining but the Missouri AD is denying this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/s...cuss-texas-ams-admission.html?_r=1&ref=sports Eleven of the 12 Southeastern Conference presidents will meet Sunday at a secret location to discuss the admission of Texas A&M to the league, according to a high-ranking SEC official with first-hand knowledge of the talks. The official said there was a 30 to 40 percent chance that the presidents could vote against Texas A&M’s membership. He also said there was the issue of which university would become the 14th team, something many in college sports will monitor. “We realize if we do this, we have to have the 14th,” the SEC official said. “No name has been thrown out. This thing is much slower out of the chute than the media and blogs have made it.” The official said that three weeks ago, Texas A&M’s president, R. Bowen Loftin, called the SEC commissioner, Mike Slive, and said the Aggies regretted not joining the league last summer. Two weeks ago, Slive and the SEC counsel met with Texas A&M officials. The SEC requested that Texas A&M figure out the legal viability of leaving the Big 12 contract they signed last year. “They have a contract now,” the SEC official said. “We’re very sensitive about being part of breaking a contract. What we asked them to do was to go settle their issues and not have us be on the table as the agent of causing them to leave.” The SEC official said he wondered if the SEC presidents would vote for A&M only if they were assured that a team from within one of their states — Florida State, Clemson or Georgia Tech, for example — would not be added. “I’m going to try and say, don’t bring it up now,” the SEC official said. “That shouldn’t be a condition or part of the negotiation for this next issue. But it could.”
I wonder if the ACC gets gutted it would set up the makngs of a fairly elite academic superconference - Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Notre Dame, Duke, Boston College, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech could add in a few of the old big 12/ACC......
Saw that NYT report where it says there is a "30 or 40 percent chance" that A&M is not approved. If that happens, I will be shocked considering all of the true SEC insiders have been saying they were told it would have unanimous approval for some time now. Only thing that could stop it is if teams are not happy about who would be the 14th, 15th, and 16th team and use that to vote against A&M. That said, those 3 schools would still have to get more support for that move as they only need 8/12 to approve. A&M would have egg all over its face walking back to the big XII with our tail between our legs if that happened. I have a hard time believing all this would go down without the assurance from Slive that the vote is there (though I guess it could always change last minute). Certainly wouldn't be the first time we Aggies have embarassed ourselves :grin: That said, I'll have to trust all of the other SEC insiders that have come out and said that the vote is procedural and a done deal for A&M. Now the vote for Fla State, Clemson, and GA Tech is probably up for serious discussion given the reservations of some SEC members
i think this opens the door for Texas, ou, okst and ttech to move to the pac-12. let the era of the superconference begin.
And the best thing that comes out of this is a true D-1 Playoff. If this happens, College Football with be "Fixed" as this is its only large blemish.
One holdup I see will be the "14th" team. If VTech says yes, it's a guarantee A&M goes in. FSU, Clemson, Georgia Tech not so much.
Yeah and if this happens, Slive will have egg all over his face too. Calling this meeting for votes means he better be pretty sure he has what he wants as far as A&M goes. He has been touting for the past months that he could "get to 16 in 15 minutes". If he can't get to 14 in several weeks then he was overconfident in his abilities and led A&M down this path because there is no way the A&M BOR/president does this without strong assurances from Slive. They have burned all political capital they have no matter what happens. As we saw last year, everything can change in 15 minutes.
Its funny how all of the recent UT fans disregard the TAMU rivalry. I get that. But I've heard from players that the rivalry is HUGE. It's a big deal to older alumni and the players get psyched for the game. I guess the hip thing to do now is pretend not to care, but that just isn't how it is.
Mizzou was the first of the schools to really really want out last year, but they do have a relatively good academic reputation. They basically begged to join the Big10 to get all the prestige and money that came with the academic partnerships. I'd be curious if they want to join the SEC or not. If they do and the SEC wants them, that helps hasten the demise of the Big12 instead of trying to save it by adding a bandaid.
I think the Aggies are walking into a trap of their own making. The SEC is too competitive for them. They will become a periennal doormat.
Its only a rivalry if booth teams are good. Over the past decade UT and OU have been competing for national championships and A+M hasn't so the OU-UT rivalry is bigger for recent grads. I never really got the whole UT A+M thing. I went to UT cause it had the better academics. If A+M had the better academics I would have gone there.
Yep. Texas has 300 million in its pocket assuming the Longhorn network survives for 20 years. They can't take the network into another conference so its in their best interest to keep the current conference intact for as long as possible.
same here, but I also went to UT cause I felt A and M was too "country" and the college campus wasn't as good. My friend went to A and M and had a a pro Longhorns email account at the time.
Back to mediocre within a blink of an eye. A&M's all-time record versus the SEC? A whopping 58-78. It always comes down to the money.
