When will Texas and Oklahoma officially join the SEC?

With Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 and planning to apply for SEC membership, these two schools could be joining a new conference sooner than you would think.

Texas and Oklahoma are leaving the Big 12 and should be joining the SEC sooner rather than later.

With Texas and Oklahoma notifying the Big 12 they will not renew their media rights contract in 2025 by way of a joint statement Monday, the clock is ticking for the Longhorns and Sooners to find a new conference. Though they are expected to be the 15th and 16th members of the SEC, how soon before these two college football blue-bloods will get to play in their new league?

Texas and Oklahoma are not going to ride out the media rights contract, they will pay the exit fees. They just had to say as much in the joint statement to avoid a messy legal battle.

How soon can Texas and Oklahoma leave the Big 12 and join the SEC?

From a contractual standpoint, these schools are on the hook through 2025. However, they could pay an exit fee somewhere around $70-80 million before the Grant of Rights expire. Given that they are swimming in cash, that might only take a few weeks, with or without the SEC’s involvement.

As far as scheduling, this could be coming as soon as the 2022-23 academic year.

There is no way the Big 12 will let them off the hook this college football season. Plus, there’s not enough time to completely revamp two Power Five conference’s season schedules. If the exit fee is paid in full, this move to the SEC could happen as soon as baseball or even basketball season. However, Texas and Oklahoma must be admitted into the SEC first, so this could happen in a year.

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