It's a done deal; MU joins the SEC

by Davis Hamor, posted Nov. 18, 2011

The Big 12 Conference has long been a successful football conference ... until this past May, when two long-time Big 12 members, Nebraska and Colorado, left the league. These moves were brought on by the lack of money that the entirety of the Big 12 was receiving. Ever since then, the conference has been struggling to stay together and find ways to be more profitable.

Mizzou has been at the center of that struggle the past few months as officials have been working to make a deal with the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

The (SEC) is widely accepted as the number one football conference in the nation and is full of teams that bring in the biggest talents all around the nation. Nevertheless, opinions have varied over whether MU should make the move.

MU freshman, Matt Vogelmeier from Sweet Springs, supports the move to the SEC.

“Going to the SEC would be a great idea because it could help our recruiting,” Vogelmeier said. “Also, a lot of SEC schools are good academically so Mizzou would be a nice fit there.”

Mizzou may have some struggles finding victories against Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.

“No, we definitely should not join the SEC,” Brandon Reed, MU engineering student from Fayette, said. “We would get destroyed by almost every team in the conference.”

The football team is not the only team that will be affected by the realignment, which was officially announced on Nov. 6.

Mizzou stands a good chance at winning the conference every year in basketball, because schools in the SEC tend to focus completely on football causing their other athletic teams to struggle.

According to www.espn.com, the realignment talks showed how little basketball matters to these conferences. Football is the driving force because the TV channels are willing to pay more money to show football games rather than basketball.

Tyler Dohrman, MU ag systems management major, thought that Mizzou needed to get out of the conference, but he favored joining a different one instead of the SEC.

“I think they should join the Big 10 because of geographical location and we already have two rivals, Illinois and Nebraska,” Dohrman said.

The Big 12’s days are numbered because of the lack of money it produces, so at some point the remaining teams are going to be forced to make a move.

“I am not very passionate about this decision and have not followed the details very closely, but do believe this is primarily about revenue, both short-term and long-term,” Jan Dauve, MU agricultural economics professor, said.

Mizzou’s announcement that the school will be joining the SEC next year did not come as much of a surprise because an article was prematurely released on www.ESPN.com stating that Mizzou was joining the SEC. The article, posted before the official announcement, was quickly taken off the Internet.

Now that it has been made official, the university will still have to meet a few other requirements for the SEC and their current conference, the Big 12. It is rumored on www.ESPN.com that Mizzou may end up owing the Big 12 conference $26 million for breaking its contract.

The conference will also be forced to finish up dealings with West Virginia about its contract joining the Big 12 as a replacement for Missouri.

"The decision by the University of Missouri to leave the Big 12 Conference is disappointing," said Chuck Neinas, interim Big 12 commissioner, in an article posted by ESPN. "I personally believe this decision is a mistake and that Missouri is a better fit in the Big 12."

Travis Duenke, freshman animal sciences major at MU, from Laddonia, thinks that there are both positives and negatives to the move.

“The university will bring in more money, but they will lack attendance because ours wins will go down,” Duenke said.

When looking at the current financial state of the Big 12 compared to the SEC, Mizzou’s move to the SEC would allow them to be in a more stable home. Another potential positive aspect of the move to the SEC is that the men’s basketball team may gain more success because the SEC does not focus as heavily on basketball as it does football. Mizzou’s basketball team has finished around third or fourth the past few years in the Big 12.

A possible negative aspect of the move to the SEC is that Missouri and Kansas will not be able to continue their conference rivalry. This could anger many fans because of the amount of passion that students feel toward this border war rivalry.

In recent years, Mizzou football has finished middle of the pack in the Big 12 conference, so moving to the heavily football concentrated SEC may be a tough transition on the team.

The future of the both the Big 12 conference and the SEC have now been drastically changed. Mizzou will be leaving their long-time conference, the Big 12, and will be joining a highly competitive conference in the southeastern part of the U.S. More information about the SEC can be found at www.secsports.com.

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