Report: Oklahoma and Texas 'unlikely' to leave Big 12 for SEC before 2025

The Big 12 will have 14 teams for the next two football seasons.

According to ESPN, Texas and Oklahoma have been unable to come to an agreement to leave the conference for the SEC before the 2025 season and are "unlikely" to leave before then. That means the two teams would be Big 12 members for the next two football seasons before the SEC expands to 16 teams.

When Texas and Oklahoma shocked the college sports landscape by announcing they were heading to the SEC, the teams said they’d be joining in 2025. But there had long been the possibility the schools could leave the Big 12 before that date and head to a conference where they're set to receive more annual revenue from television deals.

Now that early departure possibility looks over just days after the Big 12 announced its 2023 football schedule.

The Big 12 announced its 14-team schedule on Monday as BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF join the conference this summer. Each team will still play nine conference games, but with 13 possible opponents, there will be four teams off each team’s schedule every season.

Oklahoma will play new members Cincinnati, UCF and BYU in the place of Kansas State, Baylor and Texas Tech in 2023. Texas will play Houston and BYU while it doesn’t play West Virginia and Oklahoma State. Those schedules mean BYU is the only new member that plays both Texas and Oklahoma in its first season in the conference.

The 14-team Big 12 won’t have any divisions and the top two teams in the standings will play in the conference title game on Dec. 2.

“I would like to thank our fans for their patience awaiting this historic schedule,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said in a statement on Monday.  “Given its importance, the complexities of weaving in four new schools, adding a third time zone and ensuring alignment with key stakeholders we were very deliberate with its development."