Now, like a giddy club application, Oklahoma's and Texas's quest to join the Southeastern Conference has been made official.
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey on Tuesday morning tweeted a statement that confirmed and addressed the two current Big 12 members' desires to join the SEC.
Sankey's digital missive comes just days after the powerhouse SEC wrapped up its annual football media days in Birmingham, Alabama, where the league is headquartered and where Sankey also had steadfastly refused to comment on the OU-Texas news after the Houston Chronicle first reported the news.
Sankey's statement, in part, reads that "The University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas ... today submitted formal requests for invitations to become members of the Southeastern Conference in 2025."
NEWS | Statement from @SEC Commissioner @GregSankey: pic.twitter.com/6K9xW2sJ2o
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) July 27, 2021
Both schools on Monday had formally notified the Big 12 Conference and its member institutions of their plans to NOT renew their grants of rights agreements with the league upon expiration of that deal in 2024-25.
That move also on Monday prompted a variety of reactions, one of which included Oklahoma State President Dr. Kayse Shrum to proclaim that both Oklahoma and Texas had been "in clear breach of Big 12 bylaws."