OU, Texas reach deal to exit Big 12 in 2024

Oklahoma and Texas have reached an settlement on a deal to exit the Huge 12 one 12 months early and be a part of the SEC in 2024, the convention stated Thursday.

The colleges will forfeit a mixed $100 million in income distribution, the Huge 12 stated. The settlement is topic to remaining approval from the Oklahoma and Texas governing boards.

“As I’ve persistently said, the convention would solely conform to an early withdrawal if it was in our greatest curiosity for Oklahoma and Texas to depart previous to June 30, 2025,” Huge 12 commissioner Brett Yormark stated in a information launch. “By reaching this settlement, we are actually capable of speed up our new starting as a 12-team league and transfer ahead in earnest with our initiatives and future planning. I admire the approaches of OU president Joe Harroz and UT president Jay Hartzell to make sure an amicable conclusion to this course of, and stay up for the brilliant days forward for the Huge 12 convention.”

The SEC set off a spherical of convention realignment when it invited Oklahoma and Texas to hitch its convention in July 2021. The introduced begin date for his or her membership was July 1, 2025. Leaders at each colleges declared they have been keen to attend till that date, when the Huge 12’s grant of media rights expires, to maneuver on.

The Athletic reported in December that there was rising momentum for an early separation and that discussions had been ongoing for a number of months. Huge 12 bylaws required the 2 colleges to offer an 18-month discover of departure and pay a buyout charge equal to 2 years of income distributions.

Oklahoma and Texas will now be a part of the SEC in the identical 12 months that the convention’s new TV take care of ESPN will get underway, which can also be the identical 12 months the Faculty Soccer Playoff expands to a 12-team format and the 12 months USC and UCLA be a part of the Huge Ten. Beginning subsequent summer season, the SEC will grow to be a 16-member convention.

The settlement additionally means the Huge 12 shall be a 14-member convention for less than the 2023-24 college 12 months earlier than the Sooners and Longhorns depart. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF have been invited to hitch the Huge 12 in September 2021 and can formally grow to be members on July 1, 2023. Transition talks hit a snag late final week that left the early departures unsure, however the Huge 12 placing out a 2023 soccer schedule — as an alternative of schedules for 2023 and 2024 — was an indication that the league nonetheless anticipated to make a deal that will put Oklahoma and Texas within the SEC in July 2024.

Cincinnati, Houston and UCF needed to negotiate an early exit from the AAC final 12 months, with every college agreeing to pay an $18 million buyout charge to their former convention.

What does an early exit imply for Oklahoma and Texas soccer?

Oklahoma and Texas have had 19 months to start out planning for his or her future within the SEC. Each packages have identified all alongside, too, that the move-in date would ideally get moved up. It’ll be fascinating to see simply how aggressive they’re instantly of their new convention.

Oklahoma had gained six consecutive Huge 12 titles when it elected to hitch the SEC, however Brent Venables and his employees have lots of work to do after enduring the Sooners’ first shedding season since 1998. In the meantime, at Texas, Steve Sarkisian is getting into Yr 3 and hoping to construct on the progress of an 8-5 season. The Longhorns and Sooners have persistently recruited at a prime 5-10 degree and have five-star quarterback signees (Arch Manning and Jackson Arnold, respectively) to construct round for 2024 and past. However will both program be able to upset the order within the SEC and contend for a Faculty Soccer Playoff spot by then?

How will the SEC change in 2024?

The SEC was already planning to drop its two-division format in soccer each time Oklahoma and Texas joined the convention. The following choice to make for 2024 is whether or not to maneuver ahead with eight-game convention schedules that includes one everlasting opponent or shift to a nine-game convention slate with three everlasting opponents. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has stated they’ll “re-focus” on that call over the subsequent few months.

Dropping its normal format of East and West divisions would imply the SEC’s prime two groups will face off in its convention championship recreation beginning in 2024. The loser of that title recreation, although, would nearly be assured a spot within the 12-team CFP. Sankey is aiming to get as many SEC groups as doable into the expanded Playoff and hopes the addition of Oklahoma and Texas can enhance these efforts.

GO DEEPER

Who ought to every crew play when Texas, Oklahoma be a part of SEC?

What does it imply for the Huge 12?

Yormark made it clear from the beginning of his tenure final July that he’d be keen to debate an early exit for the 2 departing members if a deal made sense for all events. Yormark has critically explored the potential of additional Huge 12 growth and has already negotiated a six-year extension of the Huge 12’s media rights agreements with Fox and ESPN by way of 2030-31, a deal value greater than $2.2 billion.

The commissioner is decided to get began on this new period for a convention that he has persistently defended as “larger than two colleges” — as TCU demonstrated by taking part in for a nationwide title in 2022 — so it’s no shock he and his board have been finally keen to barter this separation. Yormark has an bold imaginative and prescient for his or her future and didn’t want the continued presence of Oklahoma and Texas to distract from these efforts for 2 extra years.

GO DEEPER

It’s a brand new daybreak for the Huge 12, and its prime spot quickly shall be ripe for the taking

Advertisement

Required studying

(Picture: Tim Warner / Getty Pictures)