Yes, the SEC decided Sunday not to take a vote on any conference realignment matters.That probably really shouldn't surprise anyone, even though it's not exactly how we saw this thing playing out.
But the important thing is that we are not the SEC presidents, and we are not facing a billion-dollar lawsuit (literally) for tortious interference if the Big XIIish can prove that we had a role in breaking up their conference. So everybody needs to step back from the avalanche of news that seemed to start up Friday afternoon and look at this more like a businessman.
There are two things that are relatively clear. Mike Slive and Bowen Loftin have been discussing Texas A&M joining the SEC. The Texas A&M regents are likely to vote Monday on giving Loftin the authority to move TAMU to the SEC -- or the WAC or the A-10, if he wanted to do so. Once that happens, things could move very quickly.
That's why Slive wanted to meet with his presidents today. If something was way out of line with what they wanted to do, it would give them a final opportunity to pull him back from the brink. SEC presidents have not been able to spend as much time as even we have on this, and they needed to be informed before A&M leaves the Big XIIish and things start happening at a rapid-fire pace.
Meanwhile, Loftin is going to want to give his board some read tomorrow on what the SEC presidents are thinking. The last thing A&M wants to do is leave the Big XIIish only to find that they are now without a conference. Now, Slive can give Loftin a final indication that the presidents are on board with this as long as Texas A&M makes the first move. And Texas A&M was always going to have to make the first move. But they need some reason to believe that once they take that step, they'll be okay.
The SEC presidents didn't vote today because they couldn't vote today. Not unless they were willing to owe a substantial portion of their new TV deal to the Big XIIish off the bat. Look at it another way -- why would the SEC essentially publicly confirm it is considering Texas A&M, unless it was still willing to consider expansion again soon?
All of that is not to suggest that this is a done deal. If nothing else, Sunday's lack on any tangible results is a reminder to not get too far ahead of actual events in analyzing the latest news coming out of Birmingham and College Station.
If the board of regents votes Monday not to give Loftin the authority, then the SEC expansion rumors can officially be written off. But the Sunday meeting didn't tell us what is going to happen. In retrospect, it was probably never supposed to.