OU AD Joe Castiglione discusses seating capacity and future of Red River game in SEC

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione and his Texas counterpart Chris Del Conte have both expressed the desire for the annual Red River football rivalry game to be a 2:30 p.m. kickoff when the two schools become members of the SEC beginning in 2024.

Since 2018, the annual football showdown between Oklahoma and Texas has been scheduled at 11 a.m. For many years before that, however, it was alway a late afternoon kickoff.

“If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it thousands of times how much our fans love the Red River game at 2:30,” Castiglione said during an interview Thursday with Toby Rowland, the voice of Oklahoma sports, on KREF radio.

"“That’s what everybody loved,” he said. “Obviously, it gives them (the fans) a chance to make more of a weekend of it.“That being said,” the OU athletic director added, “I don’t know that it will stay in that time slot permanently.”"

That decision will ultimately be up to ESPN, the full media partner of the SEC. The one thing the two athletic departments are definitely locked down on is that the Red River game will never be scheduled in primetime. “That’s just not going to happen,” Castiglione said.

"“There’s just too much going (on) around the State Fair to play that game at night.”"

Castiglione was asked about seating capacity at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (currently listed as 80,126) and if there is any urge to expand to 100,000 like so many that currently in the SEC. “Absolutely not,” he said in the interview with KREF.

The Sooner athletic director made it clear he wouldn’t be talked into expanding just for expansion’s sake. “Instead, we’re focusing on renovations that create great fan experience,” he said. “Seating capacity could grow some to meet demand, but not 100K.”

OU Memorial Stadium capacity was reduced from 86, 112 previously after major improvements in 2019.

There are currently five SEC stadiums in the SEC, including the one at Texas, that hold more than 100,000 (Texas A&M’s Kyle Field, LSU’s Tiger Stadium, Neyland Stadium at Tennessee, Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium and soon to be Texas’ Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium).

At its present size, Oklahoma would have the ninth largest stadium in the SEC.