Tag: Early Exit Agreement

Statements from OU, Texas, SEC, and the Big 12 on early exit agreement

Big 12 statement on the early exit agreement to allow Oklahoma and Texas to leave for the SEC in time for the 2024 season.

The long-awaited early exit agreement came to fruition on Thursday afternoon. The Big 12, Oklahoma, Texas, and their broadcast partners were able to reach an agreement to let the Red River Rivals depart for the SEC in time for the 2024 season.

The agreement, which will pay the Big 12 a $100 million exit fee was reached after months of negotiations that began to heat up in recent weeks. Now Oklahoma and Texas can begin preparations in earnest for the SEC after their final year in the Big 12 this fall.

The Sooners and Longhorns will become the 15th and 16th members of the expanding SEC in the same year that the College Football Playoff will expand to 12 teams. All that awaits is a format for the 16-team league, which appears to favor a nine-game non-divisional schedule.

The Big 12 released the following statements from the powers that be in reaction to the agreement.

Oklahoma, Texas reach early exit agreement with Big 12 to leave for SEC in 2024

According to a report from Ross Dellenger of SI, the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns have reached an early exit agreement to leave the Big 12 for the SEC in 2024.

According to a report from Ross Dellenger of SI.com, the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns have reached an early exit agreement that will allow the Red River Rivals to depart for the SEC in time for the 2024 season.

Since the initial announcement back in the summer of 2021, speculation ran rampant about when the two schools would leave the conference they’ve called home since 1996. In the last couple of months, negotiations between Oklahoma and Texas and the Big 12 began to heat up, with an actual offer being presented to the conference in the last couple of weeks. The Big 12 rejected that offer at the time.

Late last week, it was reported that the talks between the departing members and the conference had stalled. Apparently, that was only temporary.

According to the report, Texas and Oklahoma will pay a combined $100 million exit fee to the Big 12 conference. The fee helps offset the loss in media revenue the remaining eight schools took when they admitted BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF.

The general feeling around college football was that Brett Yormark and the Big 12 were motivated to come to a win-win agreement with Oklahoma and Texas. However, Fox, one of the networks that held the Big 12’s media rights, was less likely to relent, seeking equitable value to offset the loss of OU and Texas to its competitor, the SEC.

Now with the Sooners and the Longhorns heading to the SEC in 2024, the next question is, what will the conference schedule look like? The SEC is looking at a non-divisional format that will have the league playing nine conference games.

With the agreement, everyone can begin to move forward and plan for the future. Brett Yormark and the Big 12 can work to feature their conference as it will be without so much discussion about if and when an early exit might occur. Oklahoma, Texas, and the SEC can begin planning for what will be an incredibly fun conference slate.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1366]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]

Contact/Follow usย @SoonersWireย on Twitter, and like our page onย Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.