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HOOVER, Alabama – Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork defends his school after a Houston Chronicle report that Texas and Oklahoma have contacted the SEC to join the conference.
The newspaper quoted an anonymous university official and said an announcement could come in a few weeks. Texas and Oklahoma have both said they will not deal with the report.
“Speculation still revolves around college athletics,” a Texas spokesperson said in a statement. “We will not address rumors or speculation.”
Oklahoma said in a statement, “The landscape of varsity athletics is constantly changing. We don’t respond to all anonymous rumors.”
Despite this, Bjork said he would be “diligent in our approach to protect Texas A&M”.
“We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas,” Bjork said. “There’s a reason Texas A&M left the Big 12 – to be self-sufficient, to have their own identity.”
Texas A&M, along with Missouri, left the Big 12 to join the SEC in 2012.
Bjork said he and his fellow SEC athletic directors had not discussed Texas and Oklahoma’s participation in the conference. According to the SEC’s constitution for conference membership, “a vote of at least three-quarters of the membership is required to extend an invitation to membership,” or in this case, 11 of 14 schools.
Bjork also said he was not aware of any language in Texas A&M’s deal with the SEC that would prohibit the league from adding another state team.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said he was worried about the 2021 season and did not directly address what he described as an “anonymous people report.”
“I’m not going to comment on the speculation,” Sankey said.
The state of Oklahoma, while calling the reports “unconfirmed,” said it would be “extremely disappointed” if they were true and would defend its position.
“While we place great importance on history, loyalty and trust, rest assured, we will aggressively defend and advance what is best for the State of Oklahoma and our strong athletic program. , which continues to excel in the Big 12 and nationally, ”the school said in a statement.
One potential hurdle to such a move, at least in the near future, is that Oklahoma and Texas signed a Big 12 rights grant agreement, in which they granted their first and second conference media rights until ‘as of June 30, 2025. This means that the Big 12 would still own the media rights to these schools for these sports – even if they are no longer members – until the agreement expires.
Big 12’s television contracts with ESPN and Fox also expire in 2025. Longhorn Network’s agreement with ESPN runs until 2031.
Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said, “I bet they would,” when asked what he thought of the possibility of Texas and Oklahoma looking to join the conference.
“I’m just worried about A&M, you know what I mean?” Fisher said. “Look, we have the best league ever.… I don’t know how I feel about this.”
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Heather Dinich contributed to this report.
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