Chris Del Conte says location of Texas vs. Texas A&M game was 'never a concern'

During the SEC spring meetings late last month, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork weighed in with their respective stances on the location for the first showdown between their programs as members of the conference. Wednesday night, that location became official: It will be in College Station.

The SEC announced the matchup during its schedule reveal show, confirming Texas will travel to Texas A&M to renew the rivalry. Bjork was adamant at the spring meetings the game would be in College Station while Del Conte didn’t sound sure about which stadium would play host.

Now that he knows the location of the game, Del Conte maintained the stance he had in Destin. It didn’t matter to him where the game was. It’d be a big game either way.

“That was never a concern for me where we play,” Del Conte said, via the Austin American-Statesman’s Kirk Bohls. “And it doesn’t matter whether we play them on a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, a Thursday, a Friday, a Saturday or a Sunday.”

Ross Bjork indicated Texas A&M would play Texas during the SEC spring meetings

Although the teams don’t know when they’ll play — that announcement comes later — Bjork offered his preference in Destin. He suggested Thanksgiving weekend as an option, but said the timing won’t change the magnitude of the rivalry matchup.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s the first game of the season or in middle, it’ll be a monumental game,” Bjork said at the time, via Bohls.

The trip to Texas A&M will be one of three road games in 2024 for Texas, which also has to travel to Arkansas and Vanderbilt. The Longhorns have home games against Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi State in addition to a neutral site matchup against Oklahoma, which is making the jump to the SEC along with Texas.

As for the Aggies, the game against the Longhorns is part of a three-game home conference slate in 2024. They’ll also face LSU and Missouri at Kyle Field while also traveling to road games against Auburn, Florida, Mississippi State, South Carolina.

Texas and Texas A&M haven’t faced each other since 2011 — a 27-25 Longhorns victory. In that game, Justin Tucker hit a walk-off field goal to send Texas to the win. Texas A&M went on to leave the Big 12 for the SEC after that season, and that was the last time Texas was on the schedule until 2024.