Oklahoma and Texas are leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, that much is certain. Just when that jump will happen is still a bit up in the air, though.
The original move was slated to happen in time for the 2025 season, but there had apparently been some momentum to try to push that timeline up to 2024. While 2024 is still an outside shot, per Pete Thamel of ESPN, all of the parties involved — the two schools, ESPN, Fox, and the Big 12 conference — couldn’t come to an agreement about the early exit.
The big sticking point in negotiations was apparently Fox, which would have lost seven football games featuring either Oklahoma or Texas in 2024, thus losing out on the ad revenue that those big matchups would bring in. Keep in mind, though the SEC has been featured on CBS for nearly 20 years, the conference signed a 10-year deal with ESPN and ABC in 2020 that will give those networks the marquee SEC matchups starting in 2024.
If Oklahoma and Texas bolt for the SEC before ’25, that means all of their games would be part of that deal and not part of any broadcasts for Fox.
Both Texas and Oklahoma are contractually obligated to the Big 12 through 2024 and it doesn’t sound like that’s going to change — for now.
“There’s no formal timeline or brink from which you can’t come back,” a source told Thamel. “But this is where things are right now — a deal is unlikely.”
