Texas A&M says it’s leaving the Big 12 Conference
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After weeks of speculation, Texas A&M made it official Wednesday: The school plans to leave the Big 12 Conference and apply for membership in a new league.
‘After much thought and consideration, and pursuant to the action of the (Texas A&M University System) Board of Regents authorizing me to take action related to Texas A&M University’s athletic conference alignment, I have determined it is in the best interest of Texas A&M to make application to join another athletic conference,’ President R. Bowen Loftin wrote to Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe in the letter dated Wednesday.
Here is the entire news release.
It has been widely reported that Texas A&M will become the 13th team in the Southeastern Conference, but those details have yet to be worked out. The SEC recently said it was happy with its 12-team format.
The Big 12 has said, if Texas A&M left, it would act quickly to secure another school to keep the conference together. There were reports the Big 12 would target Notre Dame, but Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick reiterated this week that the Irish were happy as a football independent.
Another potential target for the Big 12 is Brigham Young, which left the Mountain West this year to become a football independent with all other sports moving to the West Coast Conference.
Southern Methodist Unversity, a current member of Conference USA, has made public it would like to be considered as the Big 12 replacement for Texas A&M.
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