SEC Commissioner: Texas, Oklahoma Likely To Be In Big 12 For 2023 Season
Sep 18, 2022, 2:36 PM | Updated: Sep 19, 2022, 10:27 am
When will Texas, Oklahoma leave the Big 12 Conference? According to SEC Commissioner, it likely won't be 2023. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – When BYU joins the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023, they will likely be league mates with Texas and Oklahoma. That’s according to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.
The Longhorns and Sooners are contracted into the Big 12 through their Grant of Rights until June 30, 2025. After that date, the two bell cow brands in the Big 12 will move on to the SEC.
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said at Big 12 Media Days in July that he was “not against” negotiations that would allow Texas and Oklahoma to leave earlier than June 30, 2025, if it served the Big 12 well.
Those comments by Yormark have left people to wonder if there would be an early exit for Texas and OU. Then the SEC moved around some non-conference games that featured Oklahoma against future SEC foes Georgia and Tennessee; it ramped up the speculation about an early exit.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke on Texas/Oklahoma
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke to reporters in the press box during the Miami-Texas A&M game in College Station on September 17. He discussed why the SEC moved those non-conference games with Oklahoma.
“You know those are non-conference contracts that couldn’t be fulfilled on both sides. And the wise thing to do was say, ‘those are going to be conference games. If we pick the right [scheduling] format, you’re going to see those with great frequency.’ But since we couldn’t fulfill those correctly, it was the right time to make the announcement.”
In 2023, there’s also a rematch of Texas/Alabama in Tuscaloosa on September 7, 2023. Sankey was asked by Austin American Statesman reporter Kirk Bohls, if that game was still on as currently scheduled.
Texas, OU not joining SEC any sooner than 2024. SEC commish Greg Sankey told us in A&M press box that UT-Bama return game in Tuscaloosa in 2023 will be played, adding, "That's a pretty good sign that the (current) conference alignments are going to stay" the way they are now.
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) September 18, 2022
Sankey replied, “Which is a pretty good sign that conference alignments are going to stay that way next year.”
We will get a clearer idea of the makeup of the SEC and Big 12 for the 2023 season soon. The SEC and Big 12 Conference typically release their conference football schedules in October of the previous year. So if the Longhorns and Sooners are gone to the SEC in 2023, some movement will need to happen.
Big 12 Conference would have 14 teams in 2023
If Texas and Oklahoma remain members of the Big 12 for the 2023-24 academic year, the Big 12 Conference membership would be at 14 teams. Currently, the Big 12 features 10 institutions. Next year, they will add BYU, UCF, Cincinnati, and Houston to the Power Five conference.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
