After a decade of relative peace and serenity in its new neighborhood, Texas A&M is having some old annoying neighbors crash at their new digs.
The members of the Southeastern Conference voted unanimously Thursday to invite Oklahoma and Texas to join the SEC, capping a remarkably swift and shocking process that could shake the foundations of college football. The two teams are scheduled to join the SEC for the 2025-26 athletic year, though both teams would like to do so before that.
"Today's unanimous vote is both a testament to the SEC's longstanding spirit of unity and mutual cooperation, as well as a recognition of the outstanding legacies of academic and athletic excellence established by the Universities of Oklahoma and Texas," said Commissioner Greg Sankey. "I greatly appreciate the collective efforts of our Presidents and Chancellors in considering and acting upon each school's membership interest."
A lot still has to be ironed out, including how the expanded SEC will look in terms of divisions or even pods. But after Texas and OU officially accept their invites Friday, the process of making those adjustments will begin in earnest.
Big 12 not going down without a fight
The loss of its two remaining major programs would appear to be a death knell for the Big 12, but Commissioner Bob Bowlsby is not taking the matter sitting down. In a statement made after the SEC vote, Bowlsby accused the SEC and ESPN of working to engineer the defection of Texas and OU "for some time". He also made it clear that neither program would be going anywhere anytime soon if he has his way.
"We will do everything possible to make sure that the student-athletes at both universities enjoy an excellent experience throughout the remaining four years of their participation and competition in the Big 12 Conference," Bowlsby said, emphasizing the conference's intention to hold Texas and Oklahoma where they are until their grant of rights agreement expires in 2025.
The Big 12 has accused ESPN of attempting to circumvent the Big 12's position by destroying the conference entirely. Even though the two are partners and have four years and approximately $576 million to go on a television contract, Bowlsby has accused ESPN of urging other conferences to pick off some -- or all -- of the remaining eight members of the Big 12 in order for it to dissolve.
In a letter sent Wednesday, Bowlsby accused ESPN of encouraging another conference -- commonly believed to be the American Athletic Conference -- to invite other Big 12 programs to join it. By the end of Wednesday night, the Big 12 was claiming ESPN had urged the AAC to take all of the remaining eight teams, thereby destroying the conference.
In a brief response sent Thursday, ESPN told the Big 12 that it had "engaged in no wrongful conduct and, therefore, there was nothing to 'cease and desist'." The network said Bowlsby's allegations "are entirely without merit".
