Meetings schedule today between the SEC’s athletic directors failed to reveal any greater plot to add the Missouri Tigers as the 14th member of the SEC. In fact, it pushes back a bit against the rumors circulating that Mizzou will join Texas A&M in the power conference. Instead, the ADs were said to have met together to discuss the addition of the Aggies alone and how a 13-team conference will look when scheduling.
The official release came from Charles Bloom, the Associate Commissioner for Communications and Public Relations. It reads as follows:
Today’s meeting of the SEC athletic directors was planned immediately following the announcement of Texas A&M joining the league. The purpose of the meeting was to integrate Texas A&M into the Southeastern Conference and plan for a 13-team schedule for all sports in 2012-13. The transition team from the SEC office made its initial report in this meeting to the athletics directors with the focus on scheduling and championship formats. The SEC is excited to have Texas A&M in the league and looks forward to having the Aggies compete in the SEC next year.
That said, this certainly doesn’t preclude Missouri from joining the SEC and instead looks like the right kind of legal posturing the SEC must do given the steps that still need to be taken before openly discussing the addition of the Tigers. It’s not a given the Tigers are gone at all, but don’t take today’s announcement as a death sentence for Missouri’s possibilities of joining the SEC.