The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners announced back in the summer of 2020 that they intended to leave the Big 12 and join the SEC. The timetable was always unclear. It is widely believed that the two schools wouldn’t be able to leave the Big 12 until the league’s current television contracts with FOX and ESPN expire in 2025, but according to Brett McMurphy, the Worldwide Leader in Sports may have the power to move things along a little faster.
Currently, the Big 12 is in a TV contract that runs out in 2025. While Texas and Oklahoma did agree to the terms of a new deal, which will run through 2031, it is with the understanding that those two teams will not be in the league when the new deal begins. To leave before 2025 would mean that the teams devalue the current contract. That is why the conference is not making it easy for the Sooners and Longhorns to leave.
“ESPN has all the keys to the castle for this to happen,” a source told McMurphy.
Not only would ESPN have to figure out how to compensate the Big 12, but it could be on the hook for a lot more money to the SEC. Beginning in 2024, ESPN and the SEC enter into a 10-year deal worth nearly $300 million. There is a clause in that deal though that would raise the price tag if any new members are added to the conference.
For programming purposes, it makes sense that ESPN would want to see Oklahoma and Texas in the SEC as soon as possible. Financially though, it may not.
The two schools would each have to pay an exit fee. While that price tag sits at $84 million (the sum of the league’s distribution for two years) right now, it is likely to be negotiated down to around $50 million per school.
Would ESPN be willing to shell out $100 million to help the schools foot that bill? Would it be willing to do that if it means the price tag on its new SEC deal goes up? On top of all of that, would the network make those leaps if it knew they would devalue the deal currently in place with the Big 12?
A second source told Brett McMurphy that FOX does not intend to stand in the way of any move and both conferences are eager to get this done and get Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC in time for the 2024 football season. That means that the final decision very well could be ESPN’s.
