A & M to SEC within 21 days---

[ponyscott]

Yesterday was just a speed bump in the road...its working still, and will be announced soon.

http://bleacherreport.com/tb/baCwT

Chip Brown
Orangebloods.com Columnist

A source locked into Texas A&M's situation said the Aggies will be announced as members of the Southeastern Conference beginning in 2012 within 21 days.

"Texas A&M wants the SEC, and the SEC wants Texas A&M," the source said.

The SEC presidents met Sunday and decided to take no action on Texas A&M but certainly left the door open.

"We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion," said Florida president Bernie Machen, chairman of the SEC presidents and chancellors, in a statement.

The A&M source said the process to complete A&M's move from the Big 12 to the SEC was always expected to take two to three weeks. That process continues uninterrupted, the source said.

Even Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe was skeptical of the SEC taking no action on Texas A&M. Beebe told Orangebloods.com on Sunday night, "I will say that I noticed and am concerned that the SEC and Texas A&M statements are ambiguous and open ended."

On Monday afternoon, Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin is expected to receive the ability to make all decisions with regard to "conference alignment" at a meeting of A&M's board of regents.

Loftin released a statement Sunday that the regents meeting will proceed and that he'll appear at a House Higher Education Committee hearing Tuesday at 2 p.m., called by committee chairman Dan Branch, R-Dallas, to look at A&M's situation.

"As we have seen over the past several days, there has been a considerable amount of misinformation regarding these discussions and any associated timelines," Loftin said in the statement.

"The chairman of our board has indicated that the regents will proceed with tomorrow's agenda item, which authorizes the president of Texas A&M to take all actions related to athletic conference alignment.


"I will also accept Chairman Branch's invitation to participate in his committee's hearing on Tuesday. These are extremely complex issues, and it is imperative that we proceed methodically and in the best interests of Texas A&M."

A source close to Loftin said he will not talk about the Aggies' disatisfaction with Texas and the ESPN-run Longhorn Network at the committee hearing. Instead, he'll talk about the benefits to Texas A&M of moving to the SEC, including more national exposure and branding as part of the SEC and equal revenue sharing.

Three sources in the know about the Texas A&M and SEC situation said they all believe the statement released by Florida president Bernie Machen, chair of the SEC presidents and chancellors, was merely a chance for the SEC and A&M to catch their breath during this courtship.

The plan is still very much for Texas A&M to be added to the SEC, the sources said.

But the presidents and chancellors of the SEC wanted to slow down the process and make sure everyone was on the same page as far as expansion plans as laid out by SEC commissioner Mike Slive, the sources said.

There was probably some concern in the SEC about possible litigation from the Big 12 with regard to the SEC interfering with Texas A&M's current contracts with Big 12 TV partners (ABC/ESPN and Fox), the sources said.

Texas A&M's lawyers have also been looking at all the details involved with leaving the Big 12.

According to an official in the Big 12, Texas A&M's buyout (exit fees) could reach $30 million to leave the Big 12.

By hitting the "pause button," according to one source, the SEC also gets to see how Texas A&M handles questions from state lawmakers during a hearing on Tuesday before the House Higher Education Committee.

The decision to take no action on Texas A&M Sunday also gives the SEC more time to decide who and when a 13th (most likely still the Aggies) and 14th school may be added.

House Higher Education Committee chairman Dan Branch told Orangebloods.com on Saturday that A&M officials have told him they thought any possible move to the SEC would take "two to three weeks to finalize."

Here is the entire statement from Dr. Bernie Machen, Chair, Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors:

"The SEC Presidents and Chancellors met today and reaffirmed our satisfaction with the present 12 institutional alignment. We recognize, however, that future conditions may make it advantageous to expand the number of institutions in the league. We discussed criteria and process associated with expansion. No action was taken with respect to any institution including Texas A&M."

Stay tuned

[NomAnor]

It cracks me up they we keep getting the best info from ORANGEBLODDS.COM

[goldenstang]

Yeah they really seem to be on top of it. LOL

[StallionsModelT]

The more I think about it the more I'm starting to come to the belief that the Big 12 wants to actually get back to 12 members. Every other conference is trying to add teams to get either 14 or even 16. If the Big 12 only adds one team to get back to 10 they still have no conference championship game and based on what is realistically out there for them, whatever ONE team they add (unless its ND) is going to be perceived as a weak move. So if they're going to 12 and need to add 3 teams, I could see any of the following being possibilities:

Notre Dame - 5% chance: Already have their own network. Extremely unlikely.

BYU- 15% chance: Same as ND, but might be able to be enticed by having their non-football sports involved with a major conference. Not playing games on Sunday will likely kill this though.

Air Force- 30% chance: Military academy, good academics, and expands Big 12 footprint into Colorado.

Houston- 10% chance: Big city, big market, large alumni base, etc. Lots to like about adding Houston. But for every good thing there are SEVERAL awful things. Commuter school, terrible stadium, terrible academics, terrible part of the city, didn't have good attendance even when they were good in the 80's and early 90's, and perhaps most imporant TEXAS HATES YOU. Houston has a chance, but I think they are not a team that the Big 12, especially Texas, want in their conference.

SMU - 15% chance: Big city, big market, big money alums, outstanding academics, and a well-rounded athletic profile. Negatives are obivous to us. Small school, in an area already dominated by existing Big 12 teams, bad attendance, and would be perceived as a weak addition to the conference. SMU has a shot, but I think its still a long one. Call me crazy but I still believe we are higher on the Big 12 wishlist than Houston.

[RednBlue11]

Joe Schadd is crying, curled in the fetal position, now that Chip Brown has a lead.

[StallionsModelT]

TCU - 5% chance: Gives the conference an instant contender and a program clearly on the rise. However, why would TCU burn the bridge with the BE to join to the UT Titantic? If TCU is smart, they'll stay put. And they've clearly been the best at navigating the realignment waters.

Arkansas - 1% chance: No way. Unless you convince them their path to the NC is easier. Their alumni and fans would go apesh*t if they left the SEC. Only a wing and a prayer of this happening.

Boise State - 5% chance: Instant contender, new market. Terrible academics and even though its a new market its not a desireable one.



That's the working list as I see it. No way to Louisville, Colorado State, Fresno State, UTEP, Tulsa, etc. That's the best list I can come up that has a realistic shot.

[RednBlue11]

Notre Dame - 5% chance: Already have their own network. Extremely unlikely.

more than that, they have NBC...LHN will never be as good a deal as that

[NomAnor]

Forgive my ignorance but can someone explain to me the longhorns hate UH so much

[ericdickerson4life]

Outside of the fact it's Cougar High?

[RednBlue11]

Forgive my ignorance but can someone explain to me the longhorns hate UH so much

not so much hate as a diminutive opinion of them

[Junior]

I'm not saying it won't happen, but I still find it amusing that so many were saying last week that "it's official" and "it's a done deal". When you have a lot of legal issues in the way, it's not a done deal, or even just a formality at that point. There's still some heavy lifting that will need to be done in order to bring this to a conclusion.

[NomAnor]

ok thats understandable most ppl in Houston call it a community collage

[Mexmustang]

"not so much hate as a diminutive opinion of them"
Isn't that their general opinion of every other program? including those that beat them?
That seems to be the real problem--what do they thing of Nebraska, Baylor, Tech, A&M, Iowa St., Kansas St., Kansas--the same.

[skyscraper]

Forgive my ignorance but can someone explain to me the longhorns hate UH so much

The recent animosity seemingly stems from an incident about a decade ago at lovely Robertson Stadium on the UH campus. Long story short, the same thing that happened with the temporary seats at Super Bowl XLV happened at UH when they hosted UT. Apparently UT fans got hosed by not getting seats and Deloss vowed never to return again. That's why they play Rice in Reliant.

[Topper]

UT doesnt want to play in a conference with a championship game and they want to schedule as many non-conference games at home as possible. They have all the TV money. Why should they care about the rest of their conference or have any desire for a 12 team Big 12.

I live among the orange here in Austin, and they seem to care not one whit what A&M does.