Three long years of college sports ago, in July 2021, the WFAA revealed shocking news about the future of college football and two of the most notable schools involved. Jason Whitely broke that Texas and Oklahoma, the two biggest brands in the Big 12 conference, planned to tell the commissioner that they would not be renewing their media rights expiring in 2025.
Five days later, amidst countless rumors and questions surrounding the situation, both schools notified the Big 12, confirming what the Chronicle had reported and letting the public know their intentions. Even without an official statement from either school, it became clear where the two powerhouses wanted to go: the Southeastern Conference, or simply the SEC.
The schools, and the conference, struck quickly. University of Texas President Jay Hartzell and Joseph Harroz Jr., who holds the same position at the University of Oklahoma, worked together to send a letter to Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, on July 27, 2021. The two presidents requested immediate entrance into the conference at the beginning of July 2025, when the athletic calendar switches over to the next year of college athletics.
Two days later, the hopes and wishes of the higher-ups came true with a unanimous vote from the 14 SEC presidents accepting both Texas and Oklahoma into their conference. By Friday the 30th, just over a week after telling the Big 12 they wanted out of the conference, the SEC had its two newest members.
Texas and Oklahoma officially became the 15th and 16th members of the conference on July 1, 2024, a year earlier than had been negotiated back in 2021. In February 2023, the Big 12 reached an agreement with the two schools for an early exit, allowing the Longhorns and Sooners to become SEC members after the end of the 2023-24 athletic season. The early withdrawal fees for each school combined for a total of $100 million, but that didn’t seem to be an issue for the two schools eager to join college sports’ most notable conference.
The SEC is a true powerhouse in athletics, especially with the introduction of the two teams. Many may be confused as to why the Longhorns and Sooners would end a nearly 30 year marriage with the Big 12 to jump over to another conference, but the results speak for themselves. The SEC had three of the top five finishers after Texas in the 2024 Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, an award given to the top athletic program in the nation. In football, the most profitable and popular sport in college athletics, the SEC has won six of the last 10 national championships. In fact, the SEC made all but two national championship games in the College Football Playoff era, the most recent one in 2023 and the first one in 2014.
Texas has found its way into the best athletic conference in the nation, and the Longhorns put the sports world on notice with its SEC celebration at the beginning of July. When each school was officially established as an SEC team, the Longhorns threw a giant, all-day party in Austin, headlined by international music star Pitbull and attended by press from across the country.
The Longhorns have already made a statement to the conference before a single ball has been snapped, served, kicked or pitched with an SEC emblem on a burnt orange jersey. Now, it is time to learn about the conference Texas is entering, including the 15 other schools in the SEC, and how Texas sports are looking ahead of the 2024-25athletic seasons.
