SEC Will Meet This Week to Discuss Adding OU, Texas

Presidents and chancellors from the SEC have scheduled a meeting on Thursday to discuss expansion and, specifically, the potential acquisitions of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12, according to a report Thursday from ESPN.

The discussion figures to be just the latest checkpoint in what seems to be the inevitability of both banner programs joining the league. It’s unclear if a formal vote on adding Texas and OU to the league will be held, though their petitions to join the league were also announced Tuesday morning and only a three-fourths majority vote is required.

Sources previously told ESPN that it’s believed enough SEC schools will vote to add the two new members. A source told ESPN on Tuesday morning that he wasn’t sure whether the league’s presidents and chancellors would vote on Thursday because there was still much work to do in terms of existing TV contracts.

[ESPN]

Texas’ board of regents on Tuesday also announced that they will hold a special meeting this week, on Friday, with “discussion and possible appropriate action regarding athletic contracts and athletic conference membership matters” on the agenda. OU on Tuesday also announced it has called a special board of regents meeting for Friday to “consider athletics conference membership.”

There are hurdles to both teams joining the SEC — especially the timeline on which it could happen, because of TV contracts — but at this point it seems like this is all a formality. OU and Texas are gone. It’s now a matter of how soon, at what cost (to pay early exit penalties) and how messy. OU and Texas’ formal request for membership requested the start date of July 1, 2025, though their leap to the SEC — if approved — is likely to come well before that.