Alabama Crimson Tide Welcome Texas, OU to the SEC
The Alabama Crimson Tide welcomed the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns to the Southeastern Conference on Friday via social media.
Both the university president, Dr. Stuart R. Bell, and the athletics director, Greg Byrne, had a statement about the Sooners and the Longhorns joining the conference.
On Thursday, the SEC’s member schools voted unanimously to invite the Sooners and Longhorns to the SEC. On Friday, both schools accepted the invitation, meaning the Big 12’s tent-pole schools will have a new athletic home in four years’ time. This came eight days after news broke that the two schools had been talking with the SEC for six months about changing conferences.
‘The addition of Oklahoma and Texas, two esteemed institutions of higher education with strong academic programs, will serve to make the SEC even stronger. We are excited to welcome them to the SEC and believe the addition of these two schools will heighten our student-athletes’ opportunities to compete, enrich the fan experience and bolster the entire conference.’ — Dr. Stuart R. Bell, UA President
‘We would like to welcome Oklahoma and Texas to the Southeastern Conference. The SEC has already established itself as the premier conference in collegiate athletics, and the addition of these two tradition-rich programs will make for an even more competitive league in all sports.’ — Greg Byrne, U of A Director of Athletics.
OU and Texas cannot join the SEC until after the 2024-25 athletic year, when the grant of media rights for the Big 12 expires. To leave earlier, the two schools would have to pay a buyout.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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