re: They let us have the Rock M back!

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Mizzou lobbied for years to join the Big 10

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Not sure I'd say it was years - but Mizzou did pursue the Big10 when the Big12 was crumbling. Of course we will never know the full story, but my understanding is the Big10 was interested initially, but wanted to bring Mizzou in with less than full share. Mizzou pushed back on that, and at the same time our then Governor ran his mouth publicly about how great we would be for the Big10 and they would be silly not to take us, etc. That really turned off the Big10 powers - and Nebraska jumped at the partial share opportunity and the rest as they say....

It sucks for us Mizzou fans because we ended up in the SEC instead (that is 100% sarcasm). Honestly, I didn't think the SEC was even an option - but they needed another to balance bringing A&M and our chancellor was close friends with the President of UF and the A&M administration. In the end I think Mizzou is way better off in the SEC than it would have been in the Big10. Awareness and visibility for Mizzou has gone way up, not sure that happens in the B1G. Also - it is a lot more fun to travel South than it is to travel to Minneapolis, East Lansing, and Iowa City in the late fall.

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Mizzou lobbied for years to join the Big 10 and could never come to terms with the fact that the Big 10 just did not want them.

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Ummm no. Mizzou had an offer to join the Big 10 back in 2010. The thing they couldn’t come to terms with was the “junior membership” status. Mizzou was not on equal footing in the Big 12 and so the thought of being a lesser member in a new conference didn’t make sense. Additionally and more importantly, Mizzou could not financially afford the reduced payouts from being a junior member. Turns out, Nebraska could afford it (or at least thought they could) and ended up sliding in instead.