KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Oklahoma sent a request to the Southeastern Conference commissioner on Tuesday to join the conference.
The request asks for invitations for membership to the SEC beginning on July 1, 2025, when their grants of media rights ends with the Big 12 Conference.
"We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC," the joint request said.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement Tuesday saying the two schools are esteemed institutions with storied athletics programs.
"We will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses," Sankey said in the statement.
For the two schools to join the SEC, the 14 current teams will vote on the requests and 11 will have to vote for the admission of each team.
The Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby responded to the formal requests submitted by the two schools to join the SEC beginning in the 2025-2026 athletic year.
"We are unwavering in the belief that the Big 12 provides an outstanding platform for its members' athletic and academic success," Bowlsby said in a statement. "We will face the challenges head-on, and we have confidence that the Big 12 will continue to be a vibrant and successful entity in the near term and into the foreseeable future."
