Texas A&M Toes The Line As Texas, Oklahoma Unanimous Invitees To SEC

Texas and Oklahoma have now been approved to join the SEC after the conference's board of regents, across the SEC's 14 programs, unanimously voted in favor of the 16-team expansion.

Reported by college football writer Brett McMurphy on Twitter, "SEC Presidents vote unanimously 14-0 to invite Oklahoma & Texas to join SEC. OU & UT’s Board of Regents meet Friday, when they are expected to officially accept invitations to become SEC’s 15th & 16th members."

According to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, noted in his press release from Tuesday, both teams will be able to join the conference starting July 1, 2025 — should the ultimate vote from the board of regents grant them a path. Sankey provided his optimism for an overwhelming approval heading into Thursday with the following:

"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 approval on Thursday welcomes both Texas and Oklahoma's board of regents to meet with SEC Commissioner Sankey on Friday to receive official invites.

Though Texas A&M played the adversarial role from the SEC's camp — calling for a meeting with Commissioner Sankey to voice some opposition regarding the move — their menacing sentiments proved to be minor after the Aggies joined Thursday's unanimous vote, 14-0.

Now that Texas and Oklahoma have declared their lack of commitment to extending their TV rights agreements — per the Big XII's mandate — both teams will await a pending exit in 2025, with few expectations that both programs will see the fully extent of their duration in the Big XII.

A potential buyout for either team would amount to an estimated $80 million due to the Big XII. Continue following the latest headlines out of college football with OutKick VIP.