The person said that Missouri’s decision to apply for membership to the SEC was “inevitable and imminent,” although a specific timeframe has yet to be set. Missouri’s Board of Curators will meet on Thursday and Friday at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where the process of withdrawing from the Big 12 and applying to the SEC is expected to begin. While expansion is not listed on the agenda, there is an private session scheduled Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
After Missouri applies, the person said that it expects “no problems” with gathering enough votes among SEC presidents to become a member.
While the interim Big 12 commissioner, Chuck Neinas, said last week that he expected Missouri to play in the league in 2012, it is possible that they could start play in the SEC as early as next year.
Missouri would become the SEC’s 14th member; the league added Texas A&M in September. The SEC would certainly prefer 14 members, as scheduling is a much simpler process with two seven-team divisions.
It is expected that the SEC presidents will tie the same caveat over legal entanglements to Missouri’s application that they did for Texas A&M. The SEC has made it clear that they want no part of any legal problems, which held up Texas A&M’s admission for more than a month.
Missouri has emerged as an unlikely linchpin in expansion, considering it has never won a Big 12 title in football. But the futures of the Big 12, SEC and Big East were all tied to Missouri’s decision, as the school has been deciding which way to go for nearly a month.
This news dampens some optimism for the Big East, which appeared to be gaining momentum toward reviving its football fortunes. The exits of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and T.C.U. have the league struggling for survival, and both Louisville and West Virginia are considered strong candidates, along with Brigham Young, for Big 12 expansion.
The Big East has made it clear that it would like to add Boise State, Air Force and Navy in football and Central Florida, Southern Methodist and Houston in all sports. The potential problem for the Big East is that it needs stability to remain attractive to potential new members.
Neinas said recently that if Missouri left the Big 12 would would settle at either 10 or 12 teams. The Big 12 Chairman Burns Hargis, the president of Oklahoma State, said on Saturday that he would prefer a 12-team league, but also acknowledged that his preference may not matter. The loss of Missouri would leave the Big 12 at nine schools, meaning a likely expansion of one or three schools, which will prompt more uncertainty and shuffling on the collegiate landscape.
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