Sources: Talks fizzle over early OU, Texas jump
9:56 AM ET Pete ThamelESPN The negotiations for Oklahoma and Texas to leave the Big 12
a year early and
sign up with the SEC in 2024 have actually stalled and a deal is not anticipated to come to fulfillment, sources informed ESPN on Friday morning.After weeks of settlements, Texas and Oklahoma are still slated to join the SEC in 2025. Sources said the parties could not concern terms amid an intricate settlement including two schools, two networks(ESPN and Fox)and the Huge 12. Sources said the sides couldn’t settle on how to develop fair worth for what Fox would lose in 2024– the
equivalent of seven football games featuring Oklahoma and Texas that command premium advertising.Editor’s Picks< img src ="https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2022/1011/ncf_espn_300_cr_1x1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center"width="65"height="65
“/ > The negotiations heated up over the previous few days, with the Big 12 meetings late today functioning as an informal due date to get a deal done.The timeline in play– the 2024 season– leaves some uncertainty and small potential for a Hail Mary revival, however the strong expectation remains that Oklahoma and Texas will play in the 14-team Huge 12 in 2023 and 2024.
“There’s no official timeline or brink from which you can’t come back,” a market source stated. “However this is where things are right now– an offer is not likely.”
Ever since Oklahoma and Texas consented to join the SEC in the summertime of 2021, there has been a drumbeat of conversation surrounding whether they would be able to leave the Huge 12 early. The schools are contractually dedicated to play through the 2024 football season, covering four complete seasons because the decision to change conferences. In the current history of conference realignment, that is an unprecedented amount of time to play out as a departing member.It was always not likely that they would leave prior to that last year of the deal, 2024, as the characteristics of scheduling, the expense of departure and the method the television agreements were structured made any kind of quicker move cumbersome. But with ESPN holding the entire rights to the SEC starting in 2024, the possibility always loomed of brokering a deal a year early.Instead, Oklahoma and Texas are slated to play out the last seasons of their agreements with the Big 12.