Coming to the SEC?: Oklahoma and Texas Release Joint Statement

Texas and OU have released a joint statement with the programs' intention to leave the conference.

Oklahoma and Texas have released a joint statement with intention to leave the conference following a meeting between the Big 12's executive committee with both schools.

It states that the schools will not be renewing their grants of media rights beyond the 2024-25 season and makes it seem that the schools could be staying in the conference until that point, but also states that "both universities will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving collegiate athletics landscape as they consider how best to position their athletics programs for the future."

Oklahoma officially joins Texas in sending letter to the Big 12 on intentions of leaving: pic.twitter.com/y8KdNQ7SQS

— Patrick Conn (@PatrickConnCFB) July 26, 2021

Bringing in both Oklahoma and Texas will give the SEC is expected to increase annual payouts in accordance with the media deal. The deal's projected annual payout is $55 million to each of the 14 programs currently in the conference. 

With the value of Texas (No. 1) and Oklahoma (No. 7), according to the Wall Street Journal, those numbers could jump to more than $70 million by the time both schools are officially members of the SEC.

It is highly expected at this point that the Southeastern Conference will extend an invitation to both Oklahoma and Texas to join the conference in the near future.

There is currently no set time frame on when commissioner Greg Sankey and the rest of the conference will meet to vote on an official decision, though there doesn't seem to be enough opposition to block the Big 12 powers from joining.