AUSTIN, Texas -- The next SEC domino has fallen.
Texas and Oklahoma officials announced Tuesday they have formally asked to join the SEC on July 1, 2025.
SEC presidents are scheduled to meet Thursday and possibly vote to accept the Longhorns and Sooners, according to a Texas A&M source.
"The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Oklahoma request invitations for membership to the Southeastern Conference starting on July 1, 2025," Texas and OU university presidents wrote in a letter that was emailed to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC.
"We look forward to the prospect of discussions regarding this matter."
The letter was signed by Texas President Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma President Joe Harroz.
In response, the SEC issued a statement on its Twitter account acknowledging that Texas and OU have applied for membership.
"While the SEC has not proactively sought new members, we will pursue significant change when there is a clear consensus among our members that such actions will further enrich the experiences of our student-athletes and lead to greater academic and athletic achievement across our campuses," the SEC statement said.
Four no votes out of the 14-team SEC membership would kill expansion.
Tuesday's letter represents Texas and OU's second step in the legal process to leave the Big 12 and join another conference. On Monday, the two schools issued a joint statement saying they informed the Big 12 they did not wish to extend their grant of TV rights beyond the 2024-25 athletic year.
The Big 12 issued a new statement midday Tuesday.
"The events of recent days have verified that the two schools have been contemplating and planning for the transition for months and this formal application is the culmination of those processes," the league said. "We are unwavering in the belief that the Big 12 provides an outstanding platform for its members' athletic and academic success. We will face the challenges head-on, and have confidence that the Big 12 will continue to be a vibrant and successful entity in the near term and into the foreseeable future."
Should SEC presidents vote to accept Texas and Oklahoma as new members, everyone will be looking at their calendars. The remaining eight schools in the Big 12 can hold Texas and Oklahoma contractually bound to complete their terms in the league.
However, Texas officials hope new TV deals can be struck beforehand, short-circuiting a possible four-year divorce from the Big 12, school sources said. Some Texas officials are privately hoping to start playing an SEC schedule in 2022 or 2023.
The UT System board of regents announced Tuesday a special meeting for Friday. According to the brief agenda posting, Texas regents will engage in "discussion and possible appropriate action related to legal issues associated with athletic contracts and conference membership matters."
Oklahoma regents also announced a similar meeting Friday as well to "consider athletics conference membership." Harroz and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione are scheduled to attend, according to an Oklahoma news release.
Former Texas A&M president R. Bowen Loftin, who oversaw the Aggies' move to the SEC a decade ago, has done several interviews in recent days about a "gentlemen's agreement" A&M once had with the league.
"There's this understanding among the membership -- at least it was 10 years ago -- that you don't admit a school from the same state as a member school unless that member school's OK with it," Loftin told ESPN.
That agreement was never in writing, Loftin admits, and it was with former SEC commissioner Mike Slive, who retired in 2015 and died in 2018.