Stoops Says YAY to the SEC; Athletes Mental Health in the Spotlight; Living in a Stadium; Change My Mind and more!
Guests- Clay Henry & Bill King
Is Texas, OU coming over to SEC pushed for ESPN’s financial reasons?
We’ll probably never know for sure but word is starting to leak out now that makes you think The Longhorn Network financial boondoggle may accelerate Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC.
Multiple reports are emerging now about the $160 million the network owes Texas in unpaid rights fees. Believe in coincidence? Nope, me either.
It will be a death blow to the Big 12 who may end up with an extra $160 million in rights fees if they can meet certain conditions. Mainly adding some marquee athletic programs to a conference that is now officially on life support.
Of course it gives ESPN a nice little way to have an SEC Network 2 channel already in place and is much more likely to be a more valuable streaming addition than The Longhorn Network proved to be.
And everybody in the SEC makes more money.
Don’t expect ESPN to just shrug and write the Big 12 a check. That may be exactly what happens, but the guess is that’s not going to happen immediately. Everybody is playing a waiting game with the Big 12 to see how many other teams jump ship immediately.
But ESPN reportedly has been in the middle of this whole thing for awhile now.
Bruce Feldman and Sam Khan, Jr., at The Athletic made that pretty clear in a story.
“I think this has been going on for six months — at a minimum of probably three months, and ESPN has been right in the middle of it,” an unnamed Big 12 athletics director told The Athletic.
On The Morning Rush on Wednesday morning, Brad Killern of The Horn in Austin echoed the same thing and the word down around the Forty Acres is this move is going to happen and the leader on speculation about the “vote” by SEC presidents will come down 13-1 officially so the Aggies can save face with their fan base.
It will actually be unanimous. Over the years I’ve known a lot of goofy Aggies that made me laugh, but not many that were broke and stupid when I lived in Texas for two decades.
Hang on because this is going to get interesting.
Now is good time for Hogs to be getting Longhorns, says Henry
With Texas football a little down in recent years, Hawgs Illustrated’s Clay Henry said on Halftime it’s a good time for them to enter SEC.
Texas, OU move could come faster than expected, The Horn’s Killner says
Brad Killner said on The Morning Rush he thinks the Longhorns and Sooners will be in SEC before 2025.
No leaks on move of Longhorns, Sooners, to SEC, says King
Nashville Sports Radio’s Bill King is surprised there were no leaks last few months on two powerhouses changing leagues.
Goode weighs in on Rodgers’ return, Longhorns, Sooners to SEC
Former Razorback Brett Goode likes the idea of Texas and Oklahoma being on the schedule every year as league game.
Halftime is LIVE! Texas and OU stuff, Kanye West, Razorbacks
Guests include Clay Henry at 11:30, Bill King at 12:30 and Change My Mind plus the obvious — Texas, Oklahoma.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – Greg Sankey makes a statement
Tye and Tommy on Sankey’s comments, What’s Your Beef Wed, Brad Kellner joins and more!
The Morning Rush is LIVE! An update from Greg Sankey
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey released a statement getting the request from Texas, OU, and the guys are talking about it.
Positives equal negatives with Texas, Oklahoma coming into SEC
Danny West of HawgSports said on Halftime on Tuesday afternoon he’s sees as many positives for Hogs with league expanding.
Texas, Oklahoma officially apply for membership in SEC
Texas and Oklahoma just lobbed the ball into the SEC’s side of the court and it’s hard to imagine they won’t add those two schools to the league.
When you look at it, there’s not really a better option out there in the main game of having the most money.
If the Longhorns and Sooners can work together on this, anybody can. In competition and fan bases, those two hate each other as much as any other rivalry in the country.
And they don’t need the SEC to be in the biggest and baddest group in college athletics. The Big Ten and ACC now would snap up either one probably by acclimation.
Commissioner Greg Sankey is still playing politics. He released a statement about the formal application Tuesday morning:
“The University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas, two esteemed academic institutions with storied athletics programs, today submitted formal requests for invitations to become members of the Southeastern Conference in 2025.
“While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, 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. The Presidents and Chancellors of the SEC, in their capacity as the conference’s Chief Executive Officers, will consider these requests in the near future. Per the Bylaws of the SEC, a vote of at least three-fourths of the SEC’s 14 members is required to extend an invitation for membership.”
Uh, Greg, be a little honest here. The only reason he hasn’t jumped on a plane headed to Norman and Austin is because he hasn’t gotten whoever does the talking with ESPN to give him the final number.
Honestly, any enrichment by the athletes will be a fortunate residual. They aren’t going to ESPN or CBS for a pay cut if it will raise the overall grade point by a full point across the league.
Texas and OU are playing a dicey game. The notification to the Big 12 was, simply, they will not be renewing the television deals in 2025. Don’t expect them to be anywhere near what’s going to be left of that league by then.
You can expect to start hearing how much just the now very realistic threat of those two schools leaving the Big 12 is going to affect their broadcast deals but educated guesses are saying it will be nowhere near what’s needed to remain a Power 5 league.
Don’t pay attention to the standard disclaimer in every story about the $80 million exit fee. Ability to pay is not an issue because both UT and OU have folks who can cover that and never blink. They will play a waiting game, though.
Now it’s down to who blinks first. The vote by the SEC will go through.
That vote will probably be 14-0.
And it probably won’t be stopping at 16 teams for long.
