Sports

Oklahoma’s Football Stadium Facelift Offers Strange Visual Ahead Of SEC Transition

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A view from outside Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

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Oklahoma’s football stadium received an SEC-style facelift this week as the Sooners look to officially become a member of the Southeastern Conference. Making the move away from the Big XII, their first day as new league members will be Monday, July 1st.

The Sooners have wiped away their former affiliation and will remind all guests of their new ties upon entering Oklahoma Memorial Stadium this fall.

Oklahoma was a founding member of the Big XII, joining at its inception in 1996. Prior, they were members of the Big Eight, a league integral in the foundation of the Big XII.

Essentially, the Sooners have been tied largely to the same group of schools since 1920.

Conference realignment, however, has pushed them into a new era entirely. The Sooners, alongside Texas, shocked the college football world with a move to the SEC, which becomes official tomorrow.

They’ve spurned the Southwest to partner with the Southeast, soon being a representative of the brand that is the SEC – where conference pride reigns supreme and everything just means more.

The OU football program will be one of the school’s first to take the field as an SEC member. Visitors will be immediately hit with reminders of that new affiliation.

Massive Southeastern Conference logos can now be spotted throughout the stadium with images of the facelift quickly surfacing on social media.

Further erasing that former Big XII connection, logos of old rivals have been replaced with those of future foes.

It might take some getting used to for Sooner fans that know nothing but life in the Big XII!

Texas celebrated its SEC move with a party!

And some new merch.

Longhorn fans gathered for “SEC Celebration Day” as they prep for the next era. The school’s already advertising its new affiliation in bookstores throughout campus.

It certainly offers a strange visual, but it’s one that’s been embraced by both OU and Texas. And neither school seems to be scared of what lies ahead.

Longhorn signal caller Quinn Ewers has already placed a Texas-sized target on his team’s back by providing bulletin board material for soon-to-be SEC rivals.

Oklahoma players, meanwhile, are stirring the pot with unprompted shots at future foes.

The SEC grows by two members on Monday. It looks like they should fit right in!