This is what some of us have been waiting for and some of us having been dreading -- a credible mainstream media report that Texas A&M is going to join the SEC within 24 hours. The source is the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, and the announcement is reportedly going to come tomorrow.
School officials spent Tuesday preparing for a news conference at Kyle Field to celebrate the move, pending a favorable vote from SEC presidents to extend an invitation. The SEC presidents met Tuesday night and approved an invitation to A&M, said sources with knowledge of the situation, but the SEC made no formal announcement.
There's a tiny bit of wiggle room in the story's lede, which says the move "is expected," but that second paragraph pretty much closes that loophole. A newspaper has now gone all in, joining the chatter from the message-board sites and other observers that it is a done deal.
Or not?
Lots of premature 'done deals' out there. Both sides want this to happen more than ever but still a hurdle to clear before A&M-to-SEC done.less than a minute ago via web 
Favorite 
Retweet 
Reply
Billy Liucci
billyliucci
Liucci has been a solid source on the conference realignment drama, so I don't want to dismiss what he says out of hand. But others, like the TAMU Scout site that has been focused on this for months, also reported that the invitation has been approved. And there's more.
In other news, details are sketchy but sources also indicate that the SEC presidents gave SEC Commissioner Mike Slive the authority to negotiate with both Missouri and West Virginia to possibly be the fourteenth conference member.
All of which at least makes sense on the surface. If the Big 12 is spinning apart as quickly as it seems to be, there's not much reason to worry about a tortious interference, especially if Oklahoma moves to the Pac-12, as expected. West Virginia might also be an easy target to pick off, especially since the Big East might not have much to sue about. Why? Because the Big East doesn't yet have a long-term television contract, at least in part because they wanted more money. Great work there, men.
This isn't over until there's an announcement, but the smart money is on the announcement being sooner, rather than later. More on this as soon as it develops.