OU's and Texas' move to the SEC spurred by lost faith in the Big 12
Berry TramelOklahoman
OU’s move to the Southeastern Conference has been in the works for as much as a year, after losing faith in the Big 12, and an official announcement is expected before next weekend that the Sooners and Texas are leaving the Big 12.
That’s according to an OU source who was involved in the discussions from the beginning.
The source also said Lincoln Riley was informed of the move early on and is on board.
“He’s been aware,” the source said. “He understands it. He understands the consequences. He’s a real competitor. He’s up for any challenge.
“The word I hear, this opens an entirely new recruiting base for OU and for Texas.”
Since the Houston Chronicle broke the story Wednesday afternoon, the process has been expedited, and the only apparent opposition is coming from SEC member Texas A&M and political factions in both Oklahoma and Texas.
The OU source said the decision is a result of university administrators’ diminishing belief that the Big 12 is a viable and sustainable conference.
“It’s pretty clear there’s not a long-term future in the Big 12,” the source said. “This is not personal. This has to be a singular focus: what’s best for the University of Oklahoma.”
The Big 12 nearly broke up a decade ago, when Nebraska left for the Big Ten and Colorado for the Pac-12. A year later, Texas A&M and Missouri joined the SEC. The Big 12 added Texas Christian and West Virginia, found economic prosperity with a new television contract and has enjoyed a mostly-successful decade.
ut in OU’s eyes, the signs have been ominous for a few years. A changing television landscape that could halt the ascension of conference contracts. The decentralization of NCAA oversight, fueled by Supreme Court decisions, that has led this summer to the Name, Image, Likeness reform that has empowered athletes. And ever-increasing costs of doing business at the highest levels of collegiate sports.
Meanwhile, OU officials increasingly saw the Big 12 as stagnant.
“If you are a university with a big stadium and a big budget, you have got to move forward in a market that can sustain you,” said another OU source.
OU and Texas are not just the bell cows of the Big 12, they are the oxen carrying the conference. While the Big 12 maintained an excellent payout to each member — $38 million in the most recent full-season allotment, which is in the ballpark of the SEC’s $44 million — that bonanza was built on the backs of the Sooners and Longhorns.
A Big 12 television contract without OU and UT likely would be far less than 50% of its current value.
“The lack of leadership and aggressiveness in the Big 12 generally was not helpful to us,” the first source said. “The Big 12 tended to be a last actor, stuck with taking what you can get, rather than being proactive and being a leader.”
Some of that assertion is not fair. OU and Texas were the conference leaders. If a leadership void existed, the Sooners and ‘Horns aren’t blameless.
But there’s no doubt that the remaining eight schools were gliding along, carried by the OU and Texas brands.
“It’s the same (old) issue,” the second source said. “OU and Texas have been carrying the load.”
The Big 12’s relative success since the near-breakup of a decade ago made many of us take our eye off the ball. The Big 12 did well financially, OU football has made four of the past six College Football Playoffs and Big 12 basketball has been an NCAA Tournament force, with Baylor the reigning NCAA champion, Texas Tech the national runner-up the tournament before that and Kansas the nation’s best team in the Covid season in between.
But the Big 12’s television contract ends in 2024-25, and rights-holders Fox and ESPN earlier this year declined to open early negotiations for an extension. That confirmed OU’s and Texas’ instincts to consider petitioning the SEC.
“Absent this move, was the Big 12 really going to go anywhere?” the OU source asked. “Were their media rights really going to expand? Was it going to stay together? If so, how long?
“It’s all part of the natural evolution in college athletics. All of us sinking together is not a victory for anyone.”
The Big 12’s lack of marquee football opponents was a factor. Getting fans into the stands is a national concern, even at places like Alabama. The Sooners figure to have a more marketable home schedule in the SEC.
“Nobody chooses to go to a bad concert,” the source said. “Nobody’s really interested in playing Our Lady of the Lake anymore. We want to see high competition, win lose or draw.
“I don’t need to see us beat up on Kansas again. I’ve seen it for 40 years. I probably wouldn’t go, except I have a wife who says, ‘we’re going.’ But you’re playing the University of Georgia, I’m going to be there.”
Some of the scheduling advantages in the SEC are overrated.
Two prominent SEC alignment plans have been bantered about.
In the first, a quad system, OU would play Missouri and Arkansas at home every other year, while hosting Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, Louisiana State and the rest of the conference members once every four years.
In a divisional system, OU would host Missouri, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and LSU every other year, and host the other East Division schools once every eight years.
The OU-Texas game would remain in Dallas every year.
So even in the SEC, there would be plenty of less-than-sizzling matchups. But there would be more juicy showdowns — an average of 1.5 home games per year against Bama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Auburn or A&M.
The source also said academics were a consideration.
“The Big 12 wasn’t doing anything for the university on the academic side,” the source said. “And the SEC is better than the Big 12. Any place you go is going to be better than where we were.”
That’s debatable. The most common yardstick for academic status is membership within the Association of American Universities. Colorado, A&M and Missouri were AAU members when they left the Big 12, and Nebraska was admitted soon after (though the Huskers eventually were booted out of the apparently-snitty organization).
That left the Big 12 with three AAU members — Kansas, Iowa State and Texas, 30% of the league.
The SEC has four AAU members — A&M, Florida, Missouri and Vanderbilt, 28.6% of the league.
“The SEC schools think about academics and where they stand nationally, a lot,” the source said. “Really good schools that are AAU accredited, others that are pursuing that distinction, more than the Big 12.”
Put me down as skeptical that there’s a big difference academically.
But the move to the SEC seals OU and Texas as partners. The schools long have had a decent relationship except the second Saturday of October, amid the State Fair of Texas, but those ties are much stronger now.
“Strong as iron right now,” the source said. Each has a new president — OU’s Joe Harroz and UT’s Jay Hartzell each was officially appointed in 2020 — who “think the world of each other. Cooperate better than we ever have.
“We want to compete with them on the field, but having the University of Texas, which is a fine academic institution, working with us, is one of the real benefits coming out of this. In days gone by, the relationship was a very distant relationship.”
The source offered no timetable on when OU would begin competing in the SEC but did say the sooner the better.
“Just hanging around, waiting for time to pass, is probably not healthy for anybody in the entire conference,” the source said. “It’s least healthy for everybody else (outside OU and Texas). Decisions need to be made.”
The buyout for leaving the conference early, considering OU’s grant-of-media-rights agreement to the Big 12, appears to be about $76 million.
“OU will be patient and will fulfill its responsibility,” the source said. “No question about that. But is that healthy, having a lame-duck conference for three more years?”
The source reiterated that this is nothing personal. Just business.
“Food for thought,” the source said. “What would be the consequences to the University of Oklahoma if Texas singularly said, ‘we’re leaving the Big 12 and we’re going to the SEC?’ That’s something that the University of Oklahoma could not afford. And vice versa.’
“As far as the teams trying to hold it together, the world evolves. For better or worse.”
