Just when you thought ridiculous conference expansion rumors were going to die down, another one popped up today, this time from KCTV5 in Kansas City.
High level sources in multiple conferences have told KCTV5 that Texas and Texas A&M are looking to move to the Big Ten Conference and are in talks to join the conference, while the University of Oklahoma is planning on petitioning the Southeastern Conference to become a member of its conference.
Aside from the ridiculousness of this particular rumor, it isn't the first time a TV or radio station has come up with something like this. To me, it seems like nothing more than a formula to generate traffic for their web site. It's a pretty simple formula, too: create a story about a big-time rumor involving expansion, wait for the story to essentially go viral and sit back and watch the traffic pour in.
Just on the surface this story seemed completely false, so it wasn't surprising that Chip Brown, the star reporter in all of the expansion talks, refuted it.
There is no truth to reports that Texas and Texas A&M are considering the Big Ten. But A&M is still considering the SEC.
What's more, Brown later reported this:
Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech appear to be in lock step to the Pac-10 but will wait til next week to announce anything.
Right now it looks like Texas A&M is the only school in this situation not completely on the Pac-10 bandwagon, as they are entertaining the thought of going to the SEC. I would be surprised if they don't just join Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and go to the Pac-10 when all is said and done, though. It doesn't make a ton of sense for the Aggies to go off to the SEC by themselves unless they want to separate from their Big 12 south buddies and go off on their own. Perhaps that is their prerogative, though.