Missouri Moves Closer to Joining SEC

The University of Missouri is heading down a path to join the Southeastern Conference, said a university official with direct knowledge of the situation.

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. Expansion is not listed on the agenda, but there is a private session scheduled Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

After it applies, the person said that Missouri expected “no problems” with gathering enough votes among SEC presidents for it to become a member.

Although the interim Big 12 commissioner, Chuck Neinas, said last week that he expected Missouri to play in the Big 12 still in 2012, it was possible that it 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 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 about legal entanglements to Missouri’s application that they did to Texas A&M’s. The SEC has made it clear that it wants 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, the SEC and the Big East were tied to Missouri’s decision.

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 Texas Christian have the league struggling for survival, and 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 settle at 10 or 12 teams. The Big 12 chairman Burns Hargis, the president of Oklahoma State, said Saturday that he would prefer a 12-team league, but acknowledged that his preference might not matter.

The loss of Missouri would leave Big 12 membership at nine, meaning a likely expansion of one or three universities, prompting more uncertainty and shuffling on the collegiate landscape.