Oklahoma & Texas 'Not Expected' to Leave Big 12 Early

It looks as if the Sooners and Longhorns will remain in the Big 12 through the entirety of their contract.

The Big 12 Conference will soon have 14 members thanks to the summer arrivals of BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, and Houston. But the league won't stay there for long as Oklahoma and Texas are ready to bounce to the SEC in the coming years.

The two schools are contractually obligated to remain in the conference through 2024. If they were to leave the league early, they would owe the Big 12 anywhere from $50M-$84M in exit fees. 

Over the summer, Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione attempted to douse the rumors of the two schools wanting to leave by 2024, instead of waiting until '25.

"Look, I know people are asking a lot of those questions and it's fair," Castiglione told ESPN. "There's a lot changing around us. If that facilitates a conversation that needs to take place about an earlier departure, then it does.

“I have said very consistently — I know my counterpart Chris Del Conte said the same thing, as have our presidents — that we informed the conference that we would leave after '25 and we plan on fulfilling our obligations and (doing) the honorable thing."

Despite recent talks of an early exit, it doesn't look like that is going to happen, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

"The negotiations for Oklahoma and Texas to leave the Big 12 a year early and join the SEC in 2024 have stalled and a deal is not expected to come to fruition, sources told ESPN on Friday morning."

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