The Oklahoma Board of Regents met on Friday morning to discuss the school’s move to the Southeastern Conference following an official invitation earlier this week.
Both OU and Texas officially accepted those invitations on Friday and the move is set to take place in 2025 following the Big 12’s current media rights deal. However, it’s speculated both schools will be leaving the conference much earlier than that, possibly in 2022.
Oklahoma State and the Sooners have played each other nearly every single year since 1904, but with OU’s move the SEC, the Bedlam series is in serious jeopardy.
However, OU president Joe Harroz, along with AD Joe Castiglione, both said they want to rivalry to continue in every sport, regardless of the move, with currently rivalries such as Florida and Florida State, and Iowa and Iowa State used as out-of-conference examples.
“We want the Bedlam rivalry to continue well past the expiration of this media rights agreement,” Harroz said. “Make no mistake, we want the Bedlam rivalry to continue. Even with this change, we want to play Oklahoma State in every sport in every year.”
One thing’s for certain: anytime a team plays OU and Texas while they’re still in the Big 12, especially this season, there will definitely be some added motivation.