Oklahoma and Texas’s Arrival to the SEC: It’s All About the Money

Photo Credits: CNBC

By: Ella Embry

For over 28 years, the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners have been playing in the Big 12 conference. Composed of 16 teams, this conference scours across the nation and includes teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, West Virginia, Utah, Ohio and Florida (SEC Network). As both Texas and Oklahoma were founding teams within the Big 12, nobody suspected their abrupt departure. When they announced their movement to the SEC, the main question surfacing the nation was: Why? Why would two of the top Big 12 teams move conferences with little to no explanation. After heavily researching, I found that the answer was quite simple. Publicity and money. 

For non-sports fans, you may be confused on what the SEC even is? The SEC, in simple terms, is a conference within the football realm. SEC stands for Southeastern Conference, meaning that teams and institutions associated with are located within the South Central and Southeastern side of the states. The conference is composed of 16 D1 teams and is labeled as the most competitive and difficult conference of them all. Every fan dreams of their team entering the SEC. For Texas and Oklahoma fans, that dream became a reality. 

When Texas and Oklahoma initially began the request to move, all 16 SEC schools had to approve of them. As this conference is much more difficult than the rest, the presidents of the institutions met to sign off or deny their admission. Once that fell through, they were in. The most favored college conference suddenly got a whole lot more interesting. 

As college football is constantly a changing landscape, there’s a lot to keep track of. NIL deals, transfer portal and payments are all topics of discussion for the teams and athletes involved. As Texas and Oklahoma were supposedly on contract with the Big 12 till 2025, their media rights and TV revenue still belonged to the Big 12 (TexasStandard). Since these contracts were expiring, they were both in need of bigger and better TV deals. What better option than the top conference of college football? 

The Oklahoma Sooners, Photo Credits: Ella Embry

As national mashups create higher intensity games, more ticket sales and media views means more revenue for the network (CNBC). Let’s talk numbers… Texas and Oklahoma each received around $34 million yearly from the Big 12 conference. With their addition to the SEC, they will each receive around $60 million yearly. Expanding the SEC simply helps justify ESPN’s $3 billion investment in the conference. Currently, the SEC receives $497 million in TV and radio fees (USA Today). That number could skyrocket to over $500 million by the end of 2025. 

The reason these teams make so much money is because name, image and popularity is everything. Take Georgia for example. Georgia has a bigger fanbase and favoritism than Kansas does. More people will tune in and attend Georgia games rather than Kansas. This results in more money for Georgia. This goes the same for Texas and Oklahoma. As two highly liked teams in the Big 12, their fans will transfer over to the SEC network helping them make more revenue. 

The Texas Longhorns, Photo Credits: Texas Athletics

The best benefit of more revenue to the SEC is the additional bonuses for the universities associated. More airtime of a specific team equals for automatic airtime for that specific university. This could lead to numerous things but most importantly creates persuasion for fans to come to their university. It’s a constant cycle and loophole for money. If you attend that university, guess what? You are giving them more money! 

Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners playing at the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Rivarly, Photo Credits: Sports Illustrated

The last and most strategic advantage on the SEC’s part for allowing Texas and Oklahoma to join is their well known history. Thousands of fans gather yearly to see them play at the Cotton Bowl and fight for the title of Red River champs. By adding such a large rivalry into the conference, the revenue and fandom will continue to grow immensely. The SEC has been notorious for being one step ahead. This proves that point further. 

At the end of the day, Oklahoma and Texas joined the SEC for one main reason being revenue. Not to mention that they are now a part of the best conference that college football has to offer. This transition will and already has resulted in multiple benefits and downsides for both teams. Harder teams means harder losses. However, winning games in this conference is extremely more significant. Whether you are a Longhorn fan, Sooner fan or neither, you’ve got to admit that it’s pretty cool to have a local college team enter the SEC. If you would like to learn more about the Southeastern Conference, check out secsports.com. If you would like to learn further information about the Texas Longhorns or Oklahoma Sooners, check out texaslonghorns.com and soonersports.com. 

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