Texas Officially Sends Letter To Big 12, Signalling Move To SEC
After days of speculation, the University of Texas has announced they will be taking the first steps toward leaving the Big 12 and joining the Southeastern Conference in the future.
Texas officials notified the Big 12 Conference Monday morning the school does not wish to extend its television rights with the conference beyond the 2024-25 athletic year. On the memo, Oklahoma also announced its desire to leave for the SEC.
“Providing notice to the Big 12 at this point is important in advance of the expiration of the conference’s current media rights agreement,” UT said in a statement. “The universities intend to honor their existing grant of rights agreements. However, both universities will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape as they consider how best to position their athletics programs for the future.”
The two rival schools, which will now forever be linked as the two programs that forever changed the landscape of college athletics, will now, by all indications, be heading to the SEC -- the conference that multiple reports have previously indicated as their preferred destination.
The circus began at SEC Media Days on Wednesday morning, when the Houston Chronicle broke the initial story about the Longhorns and Sooners contacting the conference about a potential move -- setting in motion the chain events that led to their Monday announcement.
READ MORE: Big 12 Executives Meet With Texas, Oklahoma, To Discuss Impending Exit To SEC
Should the two schools elect to move earlier than the expiration of the grant of rights, they would be forced to forgo their remaining Big 12 television revenue of $160 million.
Could the move happen sooner?
Just hours later, the Big 12 powerhouses took it one step further, opting to skip a Big 12 conference call on Thursday night, which was meant to discuss the potential move.
On Sunday afternoon, hoping to sell Texas and OU on the idea of staying put, the Big 12 Executive Committee held a meeting with Presidents Joe Harroz (Oklahoma) and Jay Hartzell (Texas), to discuss the future of the conference and the impending exit of the two schools.
According to LonghornsCountry.com sources, Texas and Oklahoma's stances were not changed by that meeting. As of now, Texas still could finish out their deal, meaning joining the SEC would be out of the question until the end of the 2024-2025 calendar year.
However, neither school will likely see the end of that contract.
It’s possible the Big 12 dissolves quicker, depending on what happens with the remaining eight schools and how soon they could either find new homes, or add programs in the future to replace the revenue lost by Texas and OU.
Now likely on their way to the premier conference in all of college sports, the Longhorns and the Sooners will reunite with former Big 12 foes Texas A&M and Missouri, who left to join the SEC after the 2011 season.
READ MORE: Texas A&M Now Says They're "Ready" For Texas And Oklahoma In The SEC
That is assuming, of course, that the SEC's vote to admit OU and Texas into the conference goes as expected. According to the bylaws of the SEC, schools must receive a 75 percent vote in favor of joining the conference. This would mean 11 of the current 14 schools would need to vote "yes" when asked on college expansion.
As of now, however, outside of perhaps Texas A&M, little, if any opposition to the move is expected.
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