MrGPAC said:
I still think Texas and Oklahoma joining the pac12 makes a lot more sense for all involved, including those teams and the SEC's long term financial future. The only way this makes sense to me is if Texas and Oklahoma see college football dying entirely due to the NIL issues and they are trying to get one last payday before it all implodes.
SEC and B1G being the only two conferences is not good for college football, and if its bad for college football eventually its going to start hitting revenue at those conferences.
Texas and OU in the Pac 12 (with Tech & OSU) made a little sense in ~2011 when the last round of realignment happened.
But the money landscape has changed substantially from then.
Right around the then the Pac12 network was a shiny new concept that 'promised' larger payouts than the other conferences were seeing. The SEC was only getting started on its dominant phase and playoffs were new.
At that moment (if you believed the Pac12 network promises, anyway), the Pac 12 could have made more sense than the SEC on every front - more money, an easier league to succeed in, and the opportunity to be aligned with AAU quality schools (as both Texas and OU had indicated they wanted to be associated with top academics at the time)
Obviously, with retrospect.. the Pac12 network didn't really deliver, and other conferences would very soon sign TV deals worth much more. Texas and OU, I guess, are willing to take an average of extra loss annually for an extra $10M a year. Can't say i totally blame them. At least they'll get the A&M rivalry back