Big 12 Releases Statement after Official OU, UT Announcements

The Big 12 has formally responded to Oklahoma’s and Texas’ announcement that the schools won’t renew media rights deals with the conference when the current deal is up in 2025.

All of this comes after news broke last week that OU and Texas have been in talks with a jump to the SEC. The Big 12 met with the two schools Sunday afternoon, before Monday’s formal announcement.

“Although our eight members are disappointed with the decisions of these two institutions, we recognize that intercollegiate athletics is experiencing rapid change and will most likely look much different in 2025 than it does currently,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in Monday’s release.  “The Big 12 Conference will continue to support our member institutions’ efforts to graduate student-athletes, and compete for Big 12 and NCAA championships.   

“Like many others, we will use the next four years to fully assess what the landscape will look like in 2025 and beyond.  The remaining eight institutions will work together in a collaborative manner to thoughtfully and strategically position the Big 12 Conference for continued success, both athletically and academically, long into the future.”

This statement, like OU’s and UT’s joint statement earlier Monday, made no mention of the SEC.

With the potential loss of its two biggest brands, the thought is that the Big 12 is in trouble, so Bowlsby using the phrase “long into the future” is another mention of the conference saying it doesn’t intend on going anywhere.

Although the joint statement from the two schools mentioned 2025, many reports have stated the Sooners and Longhorns intend on jumping to the SEC much earlier than that. The two schools would have to pay the Big 12 a large sum of cash in order to get out of the current deal, however. So, until the finances of that get worked out, OU and Texas are still in a holding pattern with the Big 12.