🏈 UPDATE: Texas Longhorns, Oklahoma Sooners unanimously accept invitation to SEC

[rammerjammer]

Sounds butt-hurt to me.

At this point it becomes a political smear campaign.

 

[BamaFan334]

Is it honestly legal for a media company to come in and negotiate conference alignment by throwing dollar amounts around? I hate the government, but it sounds like something they should monitor from a trader-bribe type deal.

And how the hell can they threaten to pull monopoly proceedings on FANG, but not Disney when stuff like this is happening?

 

[TerryP]

Sounds butt-hurt to me.

At this point it becomes a political smear campaign.

He really got caught with his pants down. I've been pointing to brand versus market since this broke. It looks like he didn't even consider how they should move ahead even while acknowledging his "market base" was shrinking.

For the final question of his press conference, Bowlsby indicated that he’d invested more thought in whether he might receive another question about Big 12 expansion, joking that he’d won a five-dollar bet when it never came.

“It’s really moot on that question. Conference alignment is always at the discretion of the conferences. But you have to remember, the last time around, the last round of conference realignments was all driven by cable households, and we find ourselves now in a rapidly shrinking cable environment. It is much less driven by capturing a particular cable market because if it’s an in-market fee, you get a lot more money for it than if it’s an out-of-market fee. So the more you can include those things, the more revenue you’re going to derive from it,” Bowlsby said.

“That motivation is essentially gone. The cable universe has shrunk 20 million households already. It’s going to continue to shrink as we migrate to digital consumption and streaming. And so a lot of the motivation for realignment is no longer there.”

Bowlsby acknowledge that some of the motivation could still be there, but noted that “it’s not one of the things that keeps me up at night.”

 

[1CrimsonTider]

 

[rammerjammer]

I kind of understand aTm's gripe with Texas coming in, however, in recent years, aTm would have owned Texas in the rivalry. I would think where the 2 programs are right now, aTm would be licking their chops in order to rekindle this.

 

[OldPlayer]

I kind of understand aTm's gripe with Texas coming in, however, in recent years, aTm would have owned Texas in the rivalry. I would think where the 2 programs are right now, aTm would be licking their chops in order to rekindle this.

A&M is the better team right now and has been for the last several years. Texas, the school, probably has a better brand image but with a rekindling of the rivalry it will allow the best program to win.

 

[BamaFan334]

I'll ask this again and hopefully someone can explain. With two more schools joining, would that not decrease the revenue share? How is the SEC taking in more money with these two schools? Is Disney forced to increase their broadcasting offer? Am I wrong in assuming the SEC made its money from television rights and what I'm sure is a pretty small licensing check with SEC apparel? Like, to the point of where they can cover an extra $35-$40M payout per team? Where is that extra ~$100M coming from?

 

[OldPlayer]

I'll ask this again and hopefully someone can explain. With two more schools joining, would that not decrease the revenue share? How is the SEC taking in more money with these two schools? Is Disney forced to increase their broadcasting offer? Am I wrong in assuming the SEC made its money from television rights and what I'm sure is a pretty small licensing check with SEC apparel? Like, to the point of where they can cover an extra $35-$40M payout per team? Where is that extra ~$100M coming from?

The new TV agreement will pay the SEC ~$300 million per year. The CBS agreement paid $55 million.

While that doesn't cover everything, here's an article that tries to explain some of the financial gymnastics:

A 16-team SEC would need at least $134 million more central revenue annually

 

[rammerjammer]

Another thing that will help, bowl revenue that will be distributed as well, OU has made the play off quite a bit and those type things help.

Other sports that can support themselves and not suck all the money, ie basket ball, baseball/softball. Money from making the basketball tournament, etc.

This certainly will not make up all the revenue, but I think will offset what your are describing......and as Old Player mentioned, the new TV deal will be huge. Think of all of the LHN subscribers that will now be spending money on the SEC network.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

It took a week, but we have now seen Texas A&M successfully navigate the 5 stages of grief and land on acceptance.

 

[Rolltide24]

ESPN negotiated the SEC upcoming deal based on 14 teams, right? So now they’ll “own” 16? Isn’t that a windfall for ESPN and a reduction in the “original 14’s” share of the revenue? Maybe I’m interpreting wrong. I hope I am. I hate ESPN.

 

[TerryP]

ESPN negotiated the SEC upcoming deal based on 14 teams, right? So now they’ll “own” 16? Isn’t that a windfall for ESPN and a reduction in the “original 14’s” share of the revenue? Maybe I’m interpreting wrong. I hope I am. I hate ESPN.

Likely written into the contract if they add or lose teams the pay changes.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

quote:

---

Southeastern Conference
@SEC
NEWS | The
@SEC
Presidents & Chancellors voted unanimously Thursday to extend membership invitations to the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas to join the SEC effective July 1, 2025, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2025-26 academic year.

 

[rocknthefreeworld]

That 2025 date is just contractual. I expect that Texas and Oklahoma will be competing as soon as 2022 or 2023.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

That 2025 date is just contractual. I expect that Texas and Oklahoma will be competing as soon as 2022 or 2023.

Yep. The old saying, "contracts are made to be broken..." applies...

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

I will go with 2023. 2021 is already in the works and the lawyers for the Big 12 will be able to hold of long enough to keep OU and UT playing again in 2022.

 

[ElephantStomp]

The addition of Texas and OU has made the SEC the strongest and best conference in all sports and it isn’t even close

 

[BamaFan334]

The addition of Texas and OU has made the SEC the strongest and best conference in all sports and it isn’t even close

It'll never happen again like it did in 2020, but with the conference this stacked, zero way Ohio State makes the Playoff with a questionable schedule like last season.

 

[Bama News]

SEC Extends Membership Invitations to University of Oklahoma and University of Texas - Southeastern Conference

SEC Extends Membership Invitations to University of Oklahoma and University of Texas

www.secsports.com

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (July 29, 2021) - The Presidents and Chancellors of the Southeastern Conference on Thursday voted unanimously today to extend membership invitations to the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas to join the SEC effective July 1, 2025, with competition to begin in all sports for the 2025-26 academic year.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey communicated the invitations to the respective presidents of the two universities following today's videoconference meeting of the Conference's Presidents and Chancellors. The meeting was convened after the two universities submitted separate requests for membership invitations to the SEC on Tuesday, July 27.

"Today's unanimous vote is both a testament to the SEC's longstanding spirit of unity and mutual cooperation, as well as a recognition of the outstanding legacies of academic and athletic excellence established by the Universities of Oklahoma and Texas," said Commissioner Sankey. "I greatly appreciate the collective efforts of our Presidents and Chancellors in considering and acting upon each school's membership interest."

Today's actions are in accordance with SEC Bylaw 3.1.2, which authorizes the Chief Executive Officers of the Conference to extend invitations for membership if at least three-fourths of its 14 member institutions vote to approve.

 

[Kirk Van de Graaff]

Thoughts?

My thoughts, remember the guy, Brandon, when we was at the Sugar Bowl that really hated the SEC and Bama and was ribbing the conference? Yeah, that guy is gonna be soooooooo Happy. Bless his heart! OU and Texas in the SEC, I am really laughing right now, cause these so called power houses really want to dip into that SEC money now. Think about this, if Alabama wasn't so Dominant this past decade plus, would we even be talking about this? Good move for OU and Texas, prob will happen, and I will now get to see 2 UTs get their ass rearranged on a yearly basis. Fun Times.