Big 12 powers Oklahoma, Texas inch closer to SEC with formal request for membership
The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners are officially plotting a course away from the Big 12 and toward the Southeastern Conference.
Presidents of both schools requested invitations for membership into the SEC on Tuesday in the form of a joint letter to conference commissioner Greg Sankey. They listed a start date of July 1, 2025 on the letter.
“We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the universities on the one hand,” wrote Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz, “and the SEC on the other hand, for the universities to become members of the SEC. We look forward to the prospect of discussions regarding this matter.”
The formal request for membership came exactly one day after the Longhorns and Sooners informed Big 12 leaders that they didn’t intend to remain in their current conference after the league’s grant of rights agreement comes to an end in four years.
Both schools appear to be transitioning into a new conference at full speed.
Unlike previous rounds of conference realignment, in which formal notices like these took months to become public, Texas and Oklahoma don’t appear interested in drawing out the process.
Sankey responded with the following statement: “The University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, two esteemed academic institutions with storied athletics programs, today submitted formal requests for invitations to become members of the Southeastern Conference in 2025.
“While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, we will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses.
“The presidents and chancellors for the SEC, in their capacity as the conference’s chief executive officers, will consider these requests in the near future.”
Current SEC schools could vote on Texas and Oklahoma joining the league as early as this week. They will need 11 of a possible 14 votes to gain entry into the conference. Texas A&M has voiced opposition to adding its formal conference rivals into the SEC, but the Aggies are not expected to actually prevent them from switching leagues.
It will be interesting to see when Texas and Oklahoma begin playing in the SEC, despite their requested start date.
Even though both schools have said they plan on remaining in the Big 12 until its current grants of rights deal expires after the 2024-25 academic year, most in the industry expect them to switch conferences within the next two years. If Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12 early, they will first need to negotiate an exit fee with the conference, which would reportedly be as much as $80 million per school.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby also issued a statement on Tuesday.
“The events of recent days have verified that the two schools have been contemplating and planning for the transition for months and this formal application is the culmination of those processes,” Bowlsby said. “We are unwavering in the belief that the Big 12 provides an outstanding platform for its members’ athletic and academic success. We will face the challenges head-on, and have confidence that the Big 12 will continue to be a vibrant and successful entity in the near term and into the foreseeable future.”
This story was originally published July 27, 2021 at 10:35 AM.