Chris Del Conte provides particulars related to Texas' SEC move
Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte conducted a virtual town hall on Feb. 20 to update fans, donors and other interested folks on the success of the Longhorns’ programs across the board, about what’s on the immediate horizon and what happens when Texas joins the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024, a year earlier than originally planned.
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“I’m really excited about this opportunity to go to Southeastern Conference now that we’re officially in beginning in 2024,” Del Conte said. “We don’t really our know football schedule and what division we’ll be playing in or how it’s going to be located. We’ve had people talk about permanent, not permanent, east or west.
“We have our first rules meeting coming at the end of the two months (March). I will sit down and will attend all SEC meetings from now on out.”
Del Conte said everything scheduling related is up for debate and that speculation being circulated is just that, in fact.
“We’re looking at, are we gonna play eight games, nine games? We just don’t know how it’s gonna exactly shape up,” he said. “I’ll probably know more by the summer exactly what it’s gonna look like and as soon as I know, you’ll know.”
Del Conte was asked about how much it cost to leave the Big 12 early. Was it really $100 million and was it split equally between Texas and Oklahoma?
“Our distribution from the Big 12 that we were going to receive in 2024 is going to stay with the Big 12,” Del Conte explained. “Obviously we’ll be getting a new distribution moving forward when we joined the SEC.”
There were negotiations aplenty between Texas, Oklahoma, the two conferences and their respective television partners to find a time to make the move in a timely fashion. USC and UCLA’s move to the Big 10 and the expansion of the College Football Playoffs from four teams to 12 played a part in those discussions, according to Del Conte.
Del Conte was asked if Texas will play Texas A&M again on Thanksgiving.
“That’s way too premature,” he answered. “I know that game means so much to so many people. Again that will be determined by if we eight or nine conference games. But the good thing is that we will be playing A&M and Arkansas and everyone else in the Southeastern Conference.”
Del Conte considers the move to the SEC one in which the Longhorns are “coming home.”
“When we were doing the research on the Eyes of Texas, one of the things that I found was they first unveiled the Eyes of Texas as a fundraiser to send our track team to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (the precursor to the SEC) in Atlanta,” Del Conte said. “The Eyes was actually performed as a fundraiser for our track team in 1903. So great history – I’m glad we’re coming home. It will be exciting for everybody.”
Del Conte confirmed that the Longhorn Network will be folded into the SEC Network (both are owned by ESPN).
“We have a year or two left of the Longhorn Network,” Del Conte said. “All that inventory stays with us, so we’re looking at doing a kind of historical context with our partners at IMG in terms of a new channel. But the Longhorn Network ceases to exist as we move into the SEC.”
