Texas A&M;, Texas Looking at Pacific 10

Texas A&M; and Texas officials have asked the Pacific 10 Conference about joining the league, a newspaper reported today.

The Dallas Times Herald quoted unidentified Pac-10 sources as saying that the schools would try to leave the Southwest Conference as quickly as possible in hopes of keeping their departure from becoming a political issue with state legislators.

State Sen. John Montford (D-Lubbock) said earlier this week that “the Legislature is not going to turn a deaf ear to (an attempted departure),” although he was not sure what lawmakers could do.

Spokesmen for both schools were not immediately available for comment this morning.

Speculation that Texas and Texas A&M; would defect from the SWC for more revenue has coincided with Arkansas’ move to the Southeastern Conference.

Pac-10 schools were paid an average $1.25 million each last year from bowl, NCAA Tournament and television revenues, the conference said. The conference has a contract with the Rose Bowl through 1997 worth $5.5 million a year.

SWC schools took home an average of $700,000 each from bowl, NCAA Tournament and television revenues.