It just means more to Oklahoma and Texas.
Reports have surfaced that the two schools reached out to the Southeastern Conference about joining as the 15th and 16th member schools in 2025.
The Houston Chronicle first reported the developments that a potential 12-team playoff could catalyze SEC expansion. Dawg Sports confirmed this with a source at the league office.
“With an expanded playoff, the addition of Oklahoma and Texas to the conference would create more premier regular-season games without threatening the potential for the SEC to get multiple teams into the playoff,” said the source.
Money talks, and that’s exactly why the most dominant football conference in America might expand. The TV contract for a 12-team playoff could be as much as $1 billion. Inserting the two BIG 12 name brands into the league gives the SEC more bullets to fire at that playoff revenue.
The postseason money gets more lucrative in this scenario, as would the regular season. Should the two schools join the league, it would reset the television contracts. A new deal would result in “an increase in revenue of at least 10 million a year for each of the league’s member institutions,” from revamped television contracts alone, according to a Dawg Sports source.
Sources also confirmed to Dawg Sports that Texas has been contemplating a move to the SEC for over a year. The idea picked up steam during their wide-ranging search for a new head football coach this winter. The one big hang-up for Texas is the Longhorn Network.
The school would have to end its contract with ESPN that runs through 2031. Although sources told Dawg Sports Texas “would be willing to scrap it, and believe the move to the SEC would ultimately result in more money for the university.”
ESPN could very well be on board with all of this. The network lost $48 million on Longhorn Network during the first five years of the deal. Longhorn Network has been on the air since 2011.