The news that the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns would be switching conferences caught the sports world by surprise. The two programs, among the highest-profile in all college sports, had been founding members of the Big 12 Conference in 1994. But money talks, and the addition of the two could push the Southeastern Conference past the Big Ten in revenue.
Money is doing a lot of talking in college sports recently. Long reserved only for university administrators, coaches, and whomever players’ boosters were handing money to under the table, players can now (legally) get in on the act as state legislators across the country have forced the NCAA to lift its restrictions on athletes signing endorsement deals.
And college football, the kingpin of college sports, has been listening to the money quite a bit recently. While the idea of a 12-team playoff may be salutary from a competitive and fairness perspective, it was money that ultimately pushed college football to adopt eight more playoff games. The decision by Texas and Oklahoma to defect to the SEC was done primarily with football in mind.
How all of this changes the landscape of college sports going forward, we can only guess. Texas and Oklahoma can’t join the SEC until 2025 — unless they want to pay to leave early or if the Big 12 folds in the meantime. The college football playoff expansion also must wait until 2025, unless all parties involved are willing to come to the table and speed up that timeline.
The changing college sports landscape is chaotic coming off of the chaos inflicted by the pandemic. College sports, and particularly college football, will look far different five years from now. But the money will remain oh-so-green. Well, except for that pesky inflation.
