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Texas and Oklahoma changed the college football world forever last year when they announced their intention to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025. The two blue blood programs effectively crippled the Big 12 while helping further the SEC’s status as one of the superpowers.
And, immediately after the announcement, speculation started that they would end up leaving earlier. After all, who wants to play in the Big 12 when you can play in a real conference?
And, earlier this week, news broke that there was a chance they could be moving earlier than 2025. Now, we have even more concrete info that it’s going to happen.
Stewart Mandel reports that Texas and Oklahoma could make a deal within weeks to leave early
Friday morning, Stewart Mandel of The Athletic came out with a bombshell report.
For 18 months, the Big 12, OU and Texas insisted the schools will stay until 2025.
Something changed at a Big 12 meeting in Vegas last week, and now multiple sources tell @TheAthletic they expect they’ll reach an agreement to leave early. https://t.co/1eHhYkwkI2
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) December 16, 2022
The article said, in part:
Multiple sources confirmed to The Athletic that discussions have been ongoing for several months regarding the Red River rivals leaving the Big 12 a year earlier than planned, in time for the 2024 football season. Big 12 officials held a meeting last week in Las Vegas, and in the portion of the meeting in which Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione were recused because officials were discussing future business, “momentum” emerged for an early exit, according to an administrator within the SEC. An administrator within the Big 12 confirmed that the tone in the league regarding this topic shifted following that meeting.
“They’re definitely engaged on it and moving towards something where they will leave after next season,” a Big 12 school official said.
“It’s likely they are leaving early,” said a person with knowledge of the discussions.
One Big 12 school official said he believes there will be a resolution in a matter of weeks, not months, and that the issue may be contributing to a delay in releasing the league’s 2023 football schedule. That official echoed others who believe an earlier divorce would benefit all parties involved.
Who can blame them? The earlier Texas and Oklahoma go, the more money they make. And, it will raise their national profile even more. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Stinks to be one of the other Big 12 teams, though.