re: A&M to SEC Question

One thing that helps is that TCU left to go to the Big East and not so much as a peep was made from Legislature. The smaller programs like Baylor are going to have a hard time arguing that we must all maintain the status quo when the most highly ranked team in the state of Texas changed conferences. The Higher Education Chair was 100% acting on behalf of a few very powerful Baylor alumni who are heavy Republican donors. I'm not sure why Baylor doesn't just go to a different conference that they can at least somewhat consistently compete in football and possibly dominate in sports like basketball and baseball.

Another thing that helps is that all state universities in Texas are about to have yet another severe cut from the Legislature. This has been happening for a while and the #1 argument for tuition deregulation was that the universities needed to be less dependent on state money. Deregulating tuition has seriously cut the number of people who can afford to attend state schools as it is. That was prior to the current $25 Billion budget shortfall that will lead to even more severe cuts that will happen this spring.

Bottom line being that the Legislature is going to have a lot less influence over these decisions when they are not giving anywhere near the financial support and basically leaving state schools to figure out how to cover costs. Energizing a fanbase means more donations not only to the 12th Man Foundation, but other programs which leads to the ability to keep improving academic facilities all across campus, setting up scholarships, etc. Between that and the massive push from alumni to make the switch, it really is just a matter of whether the offer is still on the table as Slive has indicated and timing.