Talks ‘stall on a deal for Oklahoma & Texas to leave the Big 12 early for the SEC’

Hopes that the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas could bolt early for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) have seemed to fizzle out.

Negotiations for the two schools to leave the Big 12 Conference in 2024 to join the SEC have stalled – decreasing the likelihood of a deal, according to ESPN.

Reports say that the sides, ‘couldn’t agree on how to create equitable value for what Fox would lose in 2024 – the equivalent of seven football games featuring Oklahoma and Texas that command premium advertising.’

Big 12 officials and the schools hoped to finish a deal this week – as the conference was already in a series of meetings. 

The two schools agreed to join the SEC in the summer of 2021, kicking off the latest in a series of major conference realignments in the NCAA on a scale not seen since 2010.

Oklahoma and Texas don’t seem set to leave the Big 12 Conference early as they’d hoped

Both schools are trying to leave the Big 12 to join the SEC in 2024, rather than in 2025

There could be some room for the two schools to leave – considering negotiations are in place for them to depart in 2024, rather than 2023.

‘There’s no formal timeline or brink from which you can’t come back. But this is where things are right now – a deal is unlikely,’ industry sources told ESPN. 

Ever since the announcement in 2021, Oklahoma and Texas were rumored to be looking for a way to leave the Big 12 early.

However, it seems the tangled web of television contracts, scheduling, and other costs would seem to be too expensive and hard to manage for all parties involved.

None of the sides could come to an agreement that would ‘create equitable value’ for Fox