There has been no vote yet to admit Missouri as the Southeastern Conference's 14th member, USC President Harris Pastides told The Daily Gamecock on Friday morning.
"We've not even had a phone call (about a vote) scheduled yet," said Pastides on the Horseshoe after Gov. Nikki Haley's announcement that a pharmaceuticals company will invest $313 million toward a project in Lexington County that will create 707 new jobs.
Pastides, who said he isn't sure if Missouri has formally applied for SEC membership or not, did say that a vote could happen in the coming days.
"They may call me, and there may be a vote on Sunday, but I'm not aware of one at this second," Pastides said.
A press release dated for Oct. 22 announcing Missouri's entrance into the conference was accidentally put on the SEC's official website and discovered late Thursday night, creating a firestorm on Twitter before the pages were pulled off the site by the league. In a tweet Friday morning, league spokesman Charles Broom stated that the erroneous posting was due to a web vendor's error.
Pastides said he was "not aware of that at all" when told about the release.
"There's no scheduled vote, and they cannot do that (admit Missouri into the conference) until we vote," Pastides said. "But again, I might go up to my office and there could be an appointment. I just don't know."
Missouri's move to the SEC from the Big 12 Conference has been considered inevitable in the world of collegiate athletics even since the MU Board of Curators authorized President Brady Deaton to take full control of the school's conference affiliation. Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC in September, becoming the league's 13th member.
Pastides said "there have been discussions" between Missouri and the SEC, "not with the presidents, but with the league."
West Virginia announced Friday it will leave the Big East and join the Big 12, presumably to fill the impending vacancy Missouri will create when it joins the SEC at some point. Pastides said such a move would fit into the timing of any possible admittance of Missouri, as the SEC does not want to destabilize another league through its own expansion.
"Our decision on Missouri or any candidate would depend on not creating a huge problem for the conference they're leaving," Pastides said.
