Oklahoma and Texas have reached an agreement on a deal to exit the Big 12 one year early and join the SEC in 2024, the conference said Thursday.
The schools will forfeit a combined $100 million in revenue distribution, the Big 12 said. The agreement is subject to final approval from the Oklahoma and Texas governing boards.
“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 in a news release. “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.”
The SEC set off a round of conference realignment when it invited Oklahoma and Texas to join its conference in July 2021. The announced start date for their membership was July 1, 2025. Leaders at both schools declared they were willing to wait until that date, when the Big 12’s grant of media rights expires, to move on.
