Texas A&M buys its way out of the Big 12/10

Texas A&M Football

((ht: nytimes.com))

The dream is over. Or at least the debate is about to be.

To the surprise of very few, Texas A&M is about to put the finishing touches on what would essentially be the University buying its way out of the Big 12/10 (soon to be 9).

According to the New York Times, the school's president sent a letter to the conference board chairman that the Aggies are walking away, probably on Tuesday. That does however come with a cost. About $15 million.

Read the New York Times story RIGHT HERE

This is your 1st step in what promises to be another, and bigger round, of conference realignment. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that A&M will get an invite from the SEC. The SEC had to wait for them to withdraw so the Big 12/10 (soon to be 9), couldn't sue them.

A&M would like to play SEC sports in 2012 and may very well do that. Whether that gives Mike Slive and his boys a chance to add another team to make the conference 14, remains to be seen. It's understood that is the next step, but the timetable is still in question.

As for the Big 12/10 (soon to be 9), don't expect them to sit around and wallow in the loss. They won't. There is already rampant speculation they will go after Arkansas, which we don't buy. We think they'll end up staying in Texas with either Houston or SMU or try and go after Brigham Young to keep things at 10 teams.

The other question is who becomes SEC #14. The answer isn't a short one, but here are your contenders: Virginia Tech, North Carolina or North Carolina State and quite possibly Louisville.

Stay tuned reader, because this is only going to get more interesting.

So, enjoy your Texas 2-step.....



UPDATE:

The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas A&M denies sending a withdrawl letter to the Big 12 Conference.