Missouri SEC Expansion: Tigers Move Closer to Hard Knock Life Outside of Big 12

Missouri took one step out of the frying pan of the Big 12 and into the blazing inferno of the SEC on Friday, when the university's governing board voted unanimously to allow Chancellor Brady Deaton to seek a new home for the Tigers.

According to KFOR in Oklahoma City, no official decision has yet been made—or acceptance yet offered—though the university has already submitted the necessary information to the SEC to get the process underway.

In the meantime, Mizzou has already taken steps to preserve a regional rivalry, presumably with long-time nemesis Kansas, by investigating the possibility of co-hosting an annual football game and a holiday basketball tournament in Kansas City with the Jayhawks.

Which raises the question: was Mizzou's 119-year rivalry with Kansas the only thing keeping the Tigers in the Big 12? Could folks in Columbia find no other value to sticking around? Did the Big 12 not make any additional effort to keep Mizzou in the league?

From a purely athletic perspective, does Mizzou really think it can compete in the SEC?

These are all questions to which one would receive either a firm stonewalling, or a generic answer here and there. One thing we can say, though, is that the Tigers will be hard-pressed to hang with the big boys of the SEC, whether they think they can or not, and whether their internet-based school network will afford them the money to do so or not.

Don't get me wrong—Mizzou has a solid history and tradition of athletic achievement. The football team has been playing for more than 120 years, the men's basketball team is a contender for the NCAA Tournament on a yearly basis and the baseball team has a national championship to its credit.

All three programs have turned out some fairly high-profile professionals in recent years, including Blaine Gabbert in football, Linas Kleiza in basketball and Ian Kinsler in baseball.

But that hardly qualifies the Tigers to compete in the SEC, especially on the gridiron. In fact, they may only be the third-best Tigers in the conference, behind LSU's and Auburn's.

Like Texas A&M earlier this year, Mizzou seems fed up with playing in a league wherein there is a clear, institutionalized divide between the haves (Texas and Oklahoma) and the have-nots (everyone else).

Chances are, Mizzou will get better deal financially out of moving to the SEC, which distributes its revenue evenly between its members, though not necessarily competitively. As Colorado and Nebraska have demonstrated this season, life outside the Big 12 is hardly a cakewalk and that the fledgling league is, perhaps, much weaker than anyone realizes.

The Tigers best be careful what they wish for, because no hunk of television revenue can completely undo the damage and humiliation wrought by the failure to compete in a new league.

Then again, if all else fails, at least Mizzou will have Kansas to beat up on once a year.