‘Growing sentiment’: Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC could come as early as 2024
According to a report from Brett McMurphy of Action Network, there's "growing sentiment" for an early exit for the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns.
Oklahoma and Texas are scheduled to move to the SEC in time for the 2025 college football season. Or are they?
Oklahoma and Texas kicked off the most recent phase of college football realignment by announcing a move to the SEC by 2025, but there's now growing sentiment that the schools could make the jump a year sooner.
There is renewed momentum suggesting the schools are trying to orchestrate their move to the SEC in time for the 2024 season instead, according to a report from college football insider Brett McMurphy.
Some expensive obstacles stand in the way of the early move, but the "climate is right" for the schools to leave the Big 12 after the 2023 season.
"There's a lot of moving parts, but there is the desire on many fronts for this to get done," an industry source told McMurphy.
Why the new push for the early move?
One reason appears to be the announcement that the Big Ten will add USC and UCLA to its ranks in time for the 2024 season, the same year in which the College Football Playoff is set to expand from four to 12 teams.
Another motive is the announcement by the Big 12 that it will add four new members in time for the 2023 football season, signing up UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, and BYU, theoretically alongside the Sooners and Longhorns for one year.
Any early move from the Big 12 would be expensive for both schools: conference bylaws require departing members to pay the sum of the league's distribution money for however many years would be left between their leaving and the expiration of the current media rights deal.
Right now, that amount would exceed $80 million for each school, according to reports. But industry experts say that the fee has historically been brought down to about 60 percent of the value, meaning Texas and Oklahoma would be on the hook for around $50 million each.
Whatever may be happening behind the scenes, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the conference is still working with the idea that the move will happen in 2025.
Unless Texas and Oklahoma can find a way out sooner.
