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 time frame has yet to be set.
Missouri’s Board of Curators will meet Thursday and Friday, where the process of withdrawing from the Big 12 and applying to the SEC is expected to begin. 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 in 2012, it was possible that it could start play in the SEC next year. Missouri would become the SEC’s 14th member; the conference added Texas A&M in September. The SEC would prefer 14 members, as scheduling is a much simpler process with two seven-team divisions.
The New York Times
