Big 12 finalizes 14-team football scheduling model for 2023-24 season, including Texas and Oklahoma

The Big 12 is in the process of finalizing football schedules for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The conference is in rotation on a 14-team conference roster that will include new additions BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF as well as Texas and Oklahoma, which have two additional seasons in the Big 12 before joining the SEC before 2025 election campaign.

The nine-game conference schedules will feature a two-year temporary rotation allowing all 14 teams to play each other at least once, according to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd. There will be permanent opponents in both seasons without interrupting the main competitions.

The Big 12 will not play teams in those two years, although it may reconsider such a split in 2025 when the league returns to 12 members. Sports Illustrated first reported the scheduling details, noting that the top 12 executives agreed to coordinate this week in Dallas.

Although there was a belief that Texas and Oklahoma might have been trying to break out of the Big 12 as early as 2024, sources told Dodd that Fox was likely to order years of big TV stock deals from ESPN as high-profile shows were going to leave their airwaves. . This is beyond what would have been a huge early exit fee the programs would have needed to pay the Big 12 directly.

Fox and ESPN are currently partners in Big 12 programming, while ESPN will be the exclusive television partner of the SEC beginning in 2025 when the Longhorns and Sooners join the league.

The Big 12 is actively seeking a new media rights deal with both Fox and ESPN who are engaged in talks.