On Thursday afternoon the Big 12 Conference was set to meet with each school’s athletic director and president. The topic of the day surrounding the reports of the Sooners’ intention of leaving the conference. The Southeastern Conference was the preferred destination for both Oklahoma and their biggest rivals, the Texas Longhorns.
Shortly after the meeting was concluded, we found out that neither Oklahoma nor Texas attended the get-together. What better way to send smoke signals to the conference that you are as good as gone than skipping a meeting to discuss your university.
According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the conference discussed ramifications for both schools and contingency plans moving forward. However, if the two biggest programs in the conference leave, the Big 12 might not exist much longer to try and punish them for an early exit.
Sources familiar with the Big 12 call tonight said there weren’t a lot of fireworks. There was a lot of process and legal talk about league bylaws if Texas and OU left. They went through buyout scenarios and timelines of different years they could potentially depart.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) July 23, 2021
What skipping this meeting says to me is that Oklahoma was long gone and not looking back. They ripped off the rearview mirror and are looking forward to their next destination, the SEC Conference. But what if it isn’t just the SEC?
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Thamel reported on Friday morning that the ACC Conference is also looking to get involved in the pursuit of the top two schools in the Big 12 Conference. He added that it is still expected that Oklahoma and Texas will be accepted into the SEC as early as next week.
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