Report: Texas, Oklahoma’s Efforts to Leave Big 12 Early Fail, Will Join SEC in 2025

It appears the Big 12 will experience two more seasons with Oklahoma and Texas as part of the conference, at least according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

His sources are telling him that the effort put forth of the two longtime Big 12 members, who accepted invitations to join the SEC two years ago, to bolt for the SEC early has stalled. This will now likely derail their path to get out prior to 2025, forcing both schools to stay in the conference for the next two athletic seasons.

According to Thamel, all parties involve couldn’t come to terms on an amicable deal for everyone, most notably the two programs, the two major networks of ESPN and Fox and the Big 12 itself.

Texas and Oklahoma will join the SEC in 2025, as parties couldn’t come to terms amid a complex negotiation between two schools (OU/Texas), two networks (ESPN/FOX) and the Big 12.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 3, 2023

Once news of the eventual exits of Oklahoma and Texas for the SEC became official, the Big 12 extended invitations to BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF in an effort to stabilize itself. Those schools will play as members of the conference starting with the upcoming 2023 college football season.

While nothing is guaranteed in the midst of an ever-changing college sports landscape and conference realignment always being a topic, the Big 12 now at least knows what it will look like over the next two years. As for the long term, some rumors suggest the Big 12 may have an interest in trying to steal some current Pac 12 schools, especially due to the uncertainty surrounding the Pac 12 with USC and UCLA set to depart for the Big Ten.