The Southeastern Conference has officially accepted a membership application by Texas A&M and is already planning 13-team schedules for next season.

In a statement, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said that the SEC was not actively looking to expand but that not considering Texas A&M would have been impossible. Slive also said the SEC is not immediately looking to add a 14th member. His full statement is below.

“In the 78 year history of the SEC, the conference had accepted the membership applications of only two institutions—Arkansas and South Carolina. Texas A&M is now the third. We remain optimistic that Texas A&M will be a member of the SEC and have started to look  at schedules for 2012-13 involving 13 teams.

“As I said over the past year or so, the SEC has had no particular interest in expansion. We were, and are, happy with 12 teams. If Texas A&M’s President, Dr. Bowen Loftin had not called me in late July, we had no plans to explore adding an institution.

“However, when President Loftin called we became interested.  Texas A&M is an outstanding academic institution with an exceptional athletic program, passionate fans and wonderful traditions.  While the SEC wasn’t thinking about expansion, it was impossible not to be interested in Texas A&M.  As you can see from the unanimous vote of our twelve Presidents/Chancellors, we would very much like to have Texas A&M as a member of our conference.

“When Texas A&M joins our conference, we don’t have immediate plans for a 14th member.  We aren’t thinking in terms of numbers.  We think about the strength of the SEC and the attractiveness of Texas A&M as an institution.”