By Jackson Schneider
Per multiple reports, both the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma are exploring multiple avenues to exit the Big 12 Conference, including potentially joining the Southeastern Conference.
Both teams are required to maintain their conference status until the current grant of rights agreement expires in 2025. When that happens, much like in 2010, conferences may shift in order to find larger monetary agreements with sports networks to televise thier events.
This is all purely based off anonymous sources currently, but no one with clout at either OU or Texas, nor in the SEC offices has actually denied that there is mutual interest between the parties.
If the two current Big 12 members were to end up into the SEC, it would create the nation's first 16-team "super conference," all while leaving the eight other current league members in rather uncertain spots.
Local schools like Kansas, Kansas State, and Iowa State would all of course have strong cases to potentially join other power conferences in the NCAA, but there would be nothing of certainty.
Many have already speculated that this will become a done deal in the coming weeks, but others are still cautiously optimistic in the Big 12 landscape.