Don’t throw away those Pac-12 ball caps just yet. Don’t try superimposing a “6” over the “2” on every piece of Pac-12 paraphernalia. Pac-12 expansion is on hold after several Big 12 schools refused Wednesday to sign a waiver promising they won’t sue the Southeastern Conference for accepting Texas A&M as a 13th member.
That development led to Texas A&M canceling a planned party to celebrate joining the nation’s strongest college football conference. The first domino expected to start a cascading of realignment and expansion remains standing.
If Texas A&M joins the SEC, many expect Oklahoma would carry out its hope of joining the Pac-12 — and bring along Oklahoma State and perhaps Texas and Texas Tech as well, which would lead to the destruction of the Big 12.
Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin told The Associated Press on Wednesday: “We are being held hostage right now. Essentially, we’re being told that you must stay here against your will and we think that really flies in the face of what makes us Americans for example and makes us free people.”
Texas Tech spokesman Chris Cook told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that Tech president Guy Bailey said “(Wednesday’s) actions put everything on hold. He just said it could be (today), it could be next year. He didn’t put a time frame on it. It could be a while.”
Texas A&M had one foot in the SEC door Tuesday night when the presidents of SEC schools voted unanimously to extend an invitation. However, the SEC wanted all nine re-maining Big 12 schools to sign a waiver promising not to sue it.
Baylor refused and, according to The Des Moines Register, so did Iowa State. reported that at least half the other Big 12 schools reserved the right to take legal action.
Colorado (Pac-12) and Nebraska (Big Ten) left the Big 12 this summer, but Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe managed to keep his conference together by negotiating a 13-year TV contract worth $1.2 billion.
In a statement, Beebe said his conference office would not sue the SEC. “However,” he said, “the waiver did not and could not bind the individual member institutions’ governing boards to waive institutional rights. If the departure of Texas A&M results in significant changes in the Big 12 membership, several institutions may be severely affected after counting on revenue streams from contracts that were approved unanimously by our members, including Texas A&M. In some cases, members reasonably relied on such approval to embark on obligations that will cost millions of dollars.”
The Big 12 could clear the way for Texas A&M to join the SEC if Oklahoma agrees to stay. That would help keep the Big 12 together and able to pursue its own expansion. But Oklahoma and Texas have said they would stay only if the Big 12 found a viable replacement for Texas A&M, and none has surfaced.
Arkansas, approached by the Big 12, will stay in the SEC.
Last week Oklahoma president David Boren said publicly that his university would pursue membership in the Pac-12.
Texas A&M hoped to join the SEC next summer.
According to a source knowledgeable about the SEC’s situation, the SEC is prepared to play with 13 member football teams next year if necessary.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com,
