Expansionalooza 2: Aggie Rumors Blow Up

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Whoa, Nellie.  This Texas A&M to the SEC talk is simply out of control at this point.  So much for 2010 being the Year of Expansion. 

Here’s what folks are saying this morning:


1.  Texas governor Rick Perry set off a new rush of chatter by telling The Dallas Morning News that “as far as I know, conversations are being had” between his alma mater — where he was once an Aggie yell leader — and the SEC.  But he also said, “I’ll be real honest with you… I just read about it the same time as y’all did.”  In other words, his statement is being taken as gospel when it probably shouldn’t be.

2.  A&M president R. Bowen Loftin is “committed to doing what is best for Texas A&M not only now, but also in the future,” according to a university release.

3.  Big 12 commish Dan Beebe says he’s taking reports of A&M-SEC talks “very seriously.”  He said, “Obviously there are a significant number of Aggie supporters who are interested in going in that direction.”

4.  The Houston Chronicle states that A&M already has one foot out the door of the Big 12. 

5.  Younger fans are pushing for a move to the SEC, but columnists like Jerome Solomon of The Chronicle say such a move would be a bad deal for A&M.

6.  A columnist for The Oklahoman says A&M to the SEC doesn’t make sense.

7.  Missouri — a school that we mentioned as a top candidate for expansion last summer when no one else was — is being mentioned more and more (now) as “an obvious candidate.”


So what’s changed since yesterday?  Nothing.  The governor of Texas said that he’d read the same stories everyone else had and his statement was then used as proof that A&M is knock, knock, knockin’ on the SEC’s door.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

I think the deafening silence from Birmingham is still worth noticing.  Mike Slive’s operation rarely springs a leak, but if something this big were really thisclose to coming to fruition, you’d think some of the A&M-to-the-SEC chatter would be coming from the SEC side of things.  So far, all the talk has come from the Lone Star State.

Is A&M sick of Texas?  Yes.  Would A&M like to grab a few million more dollars per year by jumping to the SEC?  Of course.  But might they also be playing chicken with the Texas and ESPN?  Absolutely.

Last summer, A&M officials got cozy with Slive and then wound up getting a nice “please don’t leave us” payment that kept them in the Big 12.  It’s certainly possible that the Aggies are leaking SEC talk in the hopes of forcing Texas and ESPN to ease up on their Longhorn Network plans.  If the Big 12 blows up, ESPN would have to renegotiate a number of expensive television contracts — Texas as an independent, an SEC that would now reach huge Texas markets, whatever leagues catch the other Big 12 castoffs, etc.  So even if Texas wants to air high school games and put big Big 12 games on its network, ESPN could balk if it sees that doing so would be the lesser of two evils.

If you’re ESPN, would you rather rework multiple contracts — likely paying out bigger money for each — or simply limit some of your programming options on the Longhorn Network?

So it’s possible that A&M could simply be using the SEC for leverage.  If Texas and ESPN refuse to back down, then maybe a move to the SEC would be the best option for the Aggies.  If they do back down, once again A&M would get what it wants, would stay put, and would get a “win” over the Longhorns in the battle over their television channel.

For all we know, an A&M-SEC marriage announcement will appear in your morning paper tomorrow… no one from the SEC is talking.  But we at MrSEC.com still believe there’s still some negotiating to be done before the Aggies eventually land in the Souheastern Conference.