SEC website vendor apologizes for Mizzou gaffe

Late last night, SEC’s official website published a page dated on Oct. 22 welcoming Missouri as the conference’s 14th member.

You know the story by now. Missouri isn’t in the SEC (yet); they’re also apparently not in the Big 12. The Big 12 released its own press release today on the news that West Virginia would become the conference’s 10th member. Nowhere to be found on that press release?

Missouri, of course.

Not that the Tigers aren’t in all likelihood going to the SEC -- that much is pretty clear without it officially being a “done deal” -- but the published web page was a bit premature. The article is now identified as “missing” and XOS, the SEC’s website vendor, issued this statement today:

“XOS apologizes for its inadvertent error of making available a draft article indicating that Missouri had joined the Southeastern Conference. There had been considerable speculation about the possibility that Missouri would join the Southeastern Conference, and the working draft, which was never published, was prepared so the article could be finalized and posted quickly should Missouri in fact join the SEC. The draft was not intended to be publicly available, but a website user was able to obtain it through the use of a new advanced search technology.”

The statement adds what was already believed: that the SEC is close to adding Missouri once the school officially notifies the Big 12 of its intentions to withdraw from the conference. The press release was written up and ready to go.

It just got out before it was intended.