Photo courtesy of SECsports.com/SEC Staff
Texas and Oklahoma are on the doorstep of joining the SEC as the two schools have formally requested “invitations for membership” starting in July 2025.
The request comes just one week after initial reports emerged that the two Big 12 powerhouses were in contact with the SEC in hopes of making the jump. According to ESPN, SEC presidents & chancellors will meet Thursday to consider the request with a three-fourths vote (11 of 14) needed to extend an invitation to the Longhorns and the Sooners.
“While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, we will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses. The Presidents and Chancellors of the SEC, in their capacity as the conference’s Chief Executive Officers, will consider these requests in the near future,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in a statement.
So far, Texas A&M has been the only member institution to publicly oppose the move with A&M AD Ross Bjork stating that the Aggies hope to remain the only SEC school in Texas.
Neither Ole Miss nor Mississippi State has commented publicly on the potential addition of Texas and OU to the SEC, but the athletic directors from both universities seemed to embrace the changing landscape of college athletics during recent interviews with SuperTalk Mississippi.
“Over the next 3-5 years, you’re going to see a lot of change, honestly. I don’t think it’s going to look like it looks today. What does that mean? Obviously, realignment is a part of that, I think. We want to make sure, at Ole Miss, that were in the middle of all of that and relevant. So, it’ll be very interesting to see how it all shakes out,” Ole Miss AD Keith Carter said.
“I’ve only done this for four and half years, but the earth is spinning on its axis a little quicker now than it was four and half years ago. And, the landscape is going to change over the next four to five years. and it’s going to move even faster. It’s an exciting time to be in intercollegiate athletics, but at the same time, it might be the most unpredictable era in the history of college athletics,” MSU AD John Cohen said.
While July 2025 is the target date, the speed at which this story has developed shows that things can change very quickly. ESPN reports that each university could pay a penalty of around $75 million to break their current agreements early, or they could get out of it if the Big 12 dissolves following the announced departure of its two largest revenue generators.
