Oklahoma and Texas clearly can’t wait to go to the SEC, and with the amount of money that conference brings in and the notoriety of its athletics — especially on the gridiron — who could blame them?
First things first, though, and that’s the pesky business of making the Big 12 right. The two blue-chip programs were supposed to leave in 2025, which means that by leaving early they’ll be costing the Big 12 some major money.
As such, it’s being reported that both Oklahoma and Texas have agreed in principle to pay the Big 12 a total of $100 million to skip town early.
“As I have consistently stated, the conference would only agree to an early withdrawal if it was in our best interest for Oklahoma and Texas to depart prior to June 30, 2025,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said, per ESPN. “By reaching this agreement, we are now able to accelerate our new beginning as a 12-team league and move forward in earnest with our initiatives and future planning. I appreciate the approaches of OU President Joe Harroz and UT President Jay Hartzell to ensure an amicable conclusion to this process, and look forward to the bright days ahead for the Big 12 Conference.”
While it doesn’t seem that Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 is ultimately in the best interest of the conference, what else is Yormark going to say here?
These are two of the biggest programs in college sports, and especially in college football — which is the money maker. The Big 12 is not going to be able to replace either the Longhorns or Sooners. Sure, the conference will get some money out of this deal and will add BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston on July 1st, but in the long term, the future still seems bleak for the Big 12 — or at the very least, not as bright as it would have been with Texas and OU.
ESPN is reporting that a portion of the exit fees will go to Fox in an effort to compensate for what ultimately comes down to lost revenue from losing Texas and Oklahoma games in 2024.
