Texas A&M has taken the next step toward leaving the Big 12 and joining the SEC.
A letter from Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin was delivered Thursday afternoon to Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe to inform Beebe that Texas A&M is exploring its conference options. In the letter, Loftin asked Beebe to outline the procedures required should the Aggies decide to leave the conference.
Read Texas A&M's letter to Big 12
"If Texas A&M withdraws from the Conference, we want to do so in a way that complies with the Bylaws and is supportive of your efforts to seek a new member of the Conference," Loftin wrote in the letter. "We would appreciate your conferring with the other member institutions and outlining for us the process to be followed by Texas A&M should it withdraw from the Conference."
The letter is similar to the one sent last year by Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman shortly before the Cornhuskers left the Big 12 for the Big Ten. At the time, it also appeared Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado would leave the Big 12 and join the Pac-10. Only Colorado left. Beebe worked with television partners ESPN and Fox to stitch together a financial package attractive enough to keep the other schools in the conference. As part of the reformation of the 10-school Big 12, exit penalties were stiffened to discourage further departures.
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