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PrintCOLUMBIA — Missouri Athletics Director Mike Alden on Saturday denied reports about a potential move for the school from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference, saying he had not any contact with the SEC regarding expansion.
Amid speculation about Texas A&M’s departure from the Big 12 for the SEC, ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb reported Saturday morning that a high ranking source at Texas A&M claimed Clemson, Florida State and Missouri were likely to follow the Aggies.
REPORT FROM BIG 12 CONFERENCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
IRVING, TX -- The Big 12 Conference Board of Directors conducted a teleconference meeting today to discuss the future of the Conference given recent developments regarding Texas A&M University. The Board strongly conveyed to Texas A&M its unanimous desire that it remain a Big 12 member, and acknowledged its value to the Conference. The Board noted that Texas A&M expressed concerns about institutional networks and that the athletics directors worked together and took actions, which the Board has approved, to adequately address those concerns. The other nine members reaffirmed their long term, unconditional and unequivocal commitments made to each other and the Conference last summer. Although the Board hopes Texas A&M remains in the Conference, the Board is prepared to aggressively move forward to explore expansion opportunities. In doing so, the Board recognizes the strength of the Big 12 Conference national brand and the opportunity to capitalize on it.
“No, no, no, no, there’s not truth to that,” Alden said during Saturday morning’s football scrimmage. “Our priority is the Big 12.”
Alden did not confirm or deny anything related to Texas A&M’s potential departure, only saying that the Big 12 athletic directors were scheduled for a conference call at 3 p.m. Saturday with commissioner Dan Beebe.
After meeting with the ADs, Beebe held another teleconference with the Big 12 Conference Board of Directors, which released a statement Saturday night saying the group "strongly conveyed to Texas A&M its unanimous desire that it remain a Big 12 member."
The statement also included that the rest of the Big 12 members "reaffirmed their long term, unconditional and unequivocal commitments made to each other and the Conference last summer," but that if Texas A&M were to leave, "the Board is prepared to aggressively move forward to explore expansion opportunities."
The conference unrest comes just months after the league negotiated a 13-year television contract with Fox that is reported to be worth over $1 billion. It is unclear at this time whether that contract would become void if Texas A&M left the conference.
“It’s frustrating because we’ve got a great league,” Alden said Saturday morning. “It’s frustrating and distracting.”
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Comments
Please Mike join the SEC so we could use the Missouri Tigers as a doormat. Please join the conference so I can see my team come to Como and whip their butts on there own field. ROLL BAMA ROLL TIDE!!!!!!
Doesn't the SEC already have a member school whose sports teams are named "Tigers"? LSU?
Another well-known Southern "Tiger" team is Clemson. The last time a football game was held between Clemson and MU the final score was something like 62-19. MU did not have the 62. Well, they don't call Clemson's football stadium "Death Valley" for nothing.
And education wise what would MU get out of this? I know they missed out on 10s of millions of dollars in research money when Nebraska was given a waver and picked over MU for the Big 10. What is the SEC known for?
"I know they [MU] missed out on 10s of millions of dollars in research money..."
Really? I hadn't heard about that. Was there an article in either of the Columbia newspapers or some mention of it on KOMU?
The SEC, Big 12 and Big 10 athletic conferences are each composed of public universities except that each conference has one private university as a member (Vanderbilt, Baylor and Northwestern, respectively). If you ask a Big 10 fan what the SEC conference is known for, the answer is likely to be "a bunch of rednecks."
Yes it was in pretty much all the articles having to deal with Missouri "moving" to the Big 10. I could do the leg work for you but seeing as how your coming off as an a$$ but you could spend a few minutes and look it up yourself.
To get you started: To be a member of the Big 10 means you are accredited in the American Association of Universities which NE just lost it also gained a waver and paid the the penalties. Being in the Big 10 means your a major research school and have funding from numerous military and private contractors and donors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ten_Con...
"The Big Ten has 11 of its 12 members (the exception being University of Nebraska-Lincoln) affiliated with the Association of American Universities, a prestigious collection of more than 60 research institutions, and leads all conferences in the total amount of research expenditures. Nebraska was a member of the AAU when it was invited to the Big Ten in June 2010, but was voted out just before officially joining the league in 2011.
Big Ten institutions are also, along with charter member the University of Chicago, part of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which shares a $5.6 billion research fund. "