Despite all the rumors you’ve been hearing from various media outlets and talk show hosts, Oklahoma and Texas will NOT be leaving the Big 12 earlier than originally scheduled.
Over the last couple weeks, talks between the schools and the conferences started ramping up as both Oklahoma and Texas showed interest in leaving the Big 12 and joining the SEC in 2024, one year earlier than they had originally agreed upon. However, the sides could not come to any sort of agreement as the negotiations were extremely complex since you’re dealing with not only the schools and the conferences…but television networks as well! It’s hard enough to get 2 sides to agree to any sort agreement but when you throw a 3rd leg into negotiations, the chances of getting a deal done were extremely low. According to sources, the parties could not agree on how to “create equitable for what Fox would lose in 2024.” If the 2 schools were to leave in 2024, Fox would lose 7 football games featuring Oklahoma and Texas that command premium advertising. They didn’t release a dollar amount on how much that would equate to…but one would assume the figure would be in the tens of millions of dollars (at least).
So as it sits right now, OU and Texas will stay put and play in the now 14 team Big 12 conference for the 2023 and 2024 season and will then make the move to the SEC in 2025.
