Location of First Rematch for Texas vs Texas A&M Revealed
AUSTIN - It's a new day on the 40 Acres, and The Texas Longhorns are inching closer to a renewed rivalry on the football field with their long-time arch-nemesis, the Texas A&M Aggies.
Once the game is officially scheduled, regardless of either team's records, it will immediately become one of the most highly-anticipated games on the national schedule.
And now the location for that game has been revealed by Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork in an interview with the Houston Chronicle.
“I can’t imagine the atmosphere when that game is played,” A&M athletic director Ross Bjork told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday during the SEC spring meetings. “And it will be played at Kyle Field.”
So when would this all happen?
Per a previous announcement from the schools, the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners, who will also be making the move from the Big 12, are prepared to wait until the current grant of rights agreement expires in 2025.
Should the two schools elect to move earlier, they would be forced to forgo their remaining Big 12 television revenue of $160 million -- $80 million each.
However, that does not mean the move will not happen sooner. ESPN takes over the rights to SEC football in 2024, making that a logical time frame for a move.
Either way, despite being one of the most storied rivalries in all of the college sports, Texas and Texas A&M have not taken the field against one another since the initial move of the Aggies from the Big 12, and have struggled to find common ground in any attempt to revive that rivalry.
Now, the wait is over. The Longhorns and Aggies reigniting the rivalry is just a matter of when not if.
And the first matchup will take place in the same location as the last.
“The atmosphere will be indescribable right now in terms of how many people are going to watch, how many people are going to try and get tickets to that game, how many people will have standing room only tickets,” Bjork said. “It’s going to be an epic rematch of a great rivalry, and whenever it happens Kyle Field will be the place.”
Texas leads the all-time series with the Aggies by a 76-37-5 margin, with the Longhorns winning the last game in College Station in 2011, and the Aggies winning the last game in Austin in 2010.
Texas had also won nine of their previous 12 matchups against the Aggies before the rivalry took its hiatus.
Not to mention, the Longhorns have been largely successful against SEC competition throughout their history, holding an all-time record of 191-8-89 against the conference, including a 7-1-1 record against Alabama, and a 4-1 record over Georgia.
All that matters now is for the new divisional/pod format to be decided upon, and for the Longhorns and Sooners to officially make the move.
But Bjork was quick to point out that both schools will have to wait for their turns, and that they do not have a say in the process until they become members.
“They realize they’re going to be very, very happy to be in the SEC, and that’s why they made the move,” Bjork said. “They’ll take whatever (they can get) … and they don’t have a vote in the process, it’s only current membership.”
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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