Texas & Oklahoma to come to SEC in 2024
Finally, we know when Texas and Oklahoma are coming the SEC.
It will be in 2024.
The deal with the Big 12, ESPN and FOX was thrashed out, with Fox – who would lose a bunch of game inventory – including the Red River Shoot-Out in 2024 – being the major losers in the situation – finally coming around to a deal where they would be ‘paid back’ in inventory. I’m sure that FOX also ensured themselves on ‘first pick’ of Texas and Oklahoma’s non-conference games or something like that.
Apparently, there was a deal in which the match-up between 2024 and 2027 between Michigan will now start in Ann Arbor and move to Austin three years later.
Also, Fox is getting a percentage of the exit fees from the two teams, because of the lost inventory of seven UT and OU games. The two schools also will owe the Big 12 $100 million, which they weren’t about to give up.
SCHEDULING
The Spring meetings will try and work out what the format is – it’s thought that conference will eschew its divisions and go with one of two formats:
- Where there is one ‘permanent’ opponent in an eight-game schedule (which will no doubt be utterly hated by Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas A&M, all of which will want to play each each other as soon as possible). Every ‘non-permanent’ team would play each other every four years. No divisions.
- A nine-game schedule with three permanent opponents (which will see Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas A&M play each other every year). Every ‘non-permanent’ team would play each other every four years. No divisions.
For football’s sake, I hope it’s the latter. A reversion to the Southwestern Conference/ Southwestern hate between Texas and Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Arkansas is pretty special. The four schools would be lobbying hard for the second one.
THE PROBLEM WITH NINE
But the last time that there was a vote about a nine-game schedule – something that Nick Saban has been a proponent on for years and has been backed up finally by Kirby Smart – the idea was soundly voted down. The cynic would say that it was because SEC teams could add another cupcake on the list (as well as the cross-state one (see Clemson v South Carolina game for details), which would give the lesser teams more of a chance of getting to a bowl, while other might point out that adding a smaller school to a schedule would give more exposure to smaller schools etc etc.
There is also the worry about whether ESPN would pony up the money for a ninth conference game, bearing in mind how much The Mouse is already putting into the conference’s pockets. You know that the SEC ain’t going to be giving anything way for free, but they also aren’t going to walk away from ESPN. On the other hand, ESPN would love to get its hands on Texas v Oklahoma AND Texas v Texas A&M, which – regardless of what the rest of the SEC think – are going to be two of the premier games on the SEC’s schedule. You think the SEC invited Texas along because they thought Silicon Valley-Austin would be cool place to hang out?
If there is an eight team schedule AND two permanent opponents, fans and the press will continue to be enraged about the fact that teams aren’t playing each other enough, and it doesn’t look good for the conference.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey wasn’t detailed about anything on this regard. “We wanted several pieces of information, one of which was what would happen with the College Football Playoff,” he told The Athletic. “At this point, we would look to the first months of 2023 as the opportunity to re-focus. I learned during that COVID-19 summer of 2020 not to set hard and fast deadlines, because we want some flexibility in setting a specific finish point for our conversation. We have a need to move forward though, and I would anticipate that in a general sense those decisions will sooner rather than later reach a conclusion.”
Whatever the conclusion is….it’s going to be fun.