From CBS sports (no paywall):

Saturday afternoon, Texas A&M president Katherine Banks released a statement on the possibility of the SEC expanding.

"The last few days have been challenging in many ways, and I recognize that change in college athletics is often unsettling for those who love their institutions," Banks said. "Rest assured, the chancellor, our athletic director, and I, and everyone involved in this matter are focused solely on what is best for Texas A&M University. Since 2011, we have been a proud member of the best intercollegiate athletic sports conference in history and we look forward to continued success in our SEC partnership for many years to come."

Additionally, Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork issued the following statement to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.

"The culture of any conference, but especially for A&M, that's the priority in this whole conversation," Bjork said. "I've been in the league 10 years. When I first sat down and met Mike Slive, it was about culture and collaboration, excellence on and off the field. That's what makes us the best conference. We've got to protect that.

"Look at A&M, We're stronger than ever. … Look at the landscape of college athletics. Who wouldn't want to join the SEC? Here in Texas, we've been able to pave the way. … Whoever joins, whenever they join, we're ready. We embrace it at the highest level. That's how we look at this.

"There is emotion, we get it. We're in a great state; we're in the best conference."

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Im glad they are changing their tune so quickly. Sounds like either Sankey got them in line, they made a fuss to appease their fanbase and now we see what they really feel, or they really were shocked and now we get their thought out ideas.

Katherine Banks has been absolutely outstanding and a totally responsible class act through all of this! Hats off and kudos to President Banks.

Glad to see the AD set it straight!

As long as they are willing to play ball and we can all work things out this will be fun.

We're going to be so stacked though. We will have top 15-20 caliber teams with 5 losses some seasons lol.

Also this is a repeat thread from the main page if it needs to be deleted.

What the fans want =/= what the leadership necessarily wants

We all know this because it’s true at all our schools

I think they may let A&Ms leadership symbolically abstain from the vote (like Vandy does) to at least mollify the fan base slightly

But realistically, you don’t fight a battle you’re not going to win

You keep your powder dry to fight where you can

And in this case, there’s a LOT of negotiating about to happen in restructuring the league divisions and annual schedule

I’d rather our guys not alienate folks so that we can have our voice heard and matter when these decisions happen

Also can say how I proud I am at how quick the rest of you have come around to absolutely loathing everything about cow and their massive sense of unearned entitlement after just a few small interactions with them

Here’s to them going 0-9 (or however many games it will be) in their first season of conference play

If it helps Texas A&M, Texas is likely coming in as the most hated team in the conference.

Similar to the baseball joke that all fans hate 3 teams: their main division rival, a playoff opponent who has had the best of them, and the Yankees. SEC schools will be able to despise their actual rivals and the Longhorns.

I do hope the two schools play each other regularly.