Conference realignment rumors: Why are Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for SEC?

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is considered to be one of the most dominant in all sports, specifically football. So it's not surprising that teams would want to get in on the SEC bandwagon.

This week at SEC Media Day, the talks were mostly focused on recent developments that the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, making the move from the Big-12 Conference to the SEC.

While it would be beneficial for both athletic programs to make the move to the SEC, several schools, including Texas A&M University aren't happy about the move.

Texas and Oklahoma are eyeing the SEC 👀 The Big 12 powerhouses have reached out about joining the conference, per @BrentZwerneman pic.twitter.com/9aLz5wTHoA

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 21, 2021

Why do Texas and Oklahoma want to leave the SEC?

After the news broke that the Longhorns and Sooners were planning a move out of the Big-12 to the SEC, there was an already scheduled call for all Big-12 teams. Neither Oklahoma nor Texas participated in the call, showing that both schools are adamant about leaving the conference.

Oklahoma and Texas officials are not currently on the Big 12 call w/league ADs & CEO’s, sources told @Stadium. Perhaps another sign, OU & Texas have decided to leave for SEC

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) July 22, 2021

The main benefit of the move to the SEC is money and exposure. To leave the Big 12, both schools would each have to pay over $76 million to the conference to buy themselves out of their current media TV rights agreement. But Oklahoma and Texas would make that money up with the new media and TV agreements that they would have with the SEC.

Last season, even with empty stadiums and reduced capacity at certain times throughout the season each university in the SEC spilt a profit of $657.7 million.

That exposure would also help both teams in their run for a spot in the College Football Playoff. The commission who decides on which team makes the College Football Playoff selects teams based on their strength of schedule, which being in the SEC would be quite high.

Playing at prime TV viewing times also helps get exposure and notoriety. For example, it's been said that PAC-12 teams who play at later times don't get the recognition or respect when it comes to rankings.

Since the creation of the College Football Playoff, the University of Oklahoma Sooners have been the only team to make it out of the Big-12 conference.

The last two teams to join the SEC were the Texas A&M University Aggies and the University of Missouri Tigers, both of whom joined the conference in 2012.

If this deal were to be finalized, it would put pressure on other conferences such as the ACC and Pac-12. It would affect not only the media agreements but also the ability to get a spot in the College Football Playoff.