OU-SEC celebration wraps up with drone show above stadium

NORMAN — Soon enough, the field at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium will be used for its intended purpose.

Football is for another day, though.

Monday’s day-long welcome-to-the-SEC celebration , which started and ended at the stadium, was much more about the fans than anything else.

Several hundred fans spent Monday evening in the stadium, listening to live music, enjoying a variety of games and activities, shopping for new OU gear featuring the SEC logo and taking advantage of photo opportunities on the field.

The stadium’s video boards displayed the “OU X SEC” logo and the ribbon boards on the stadium’s east side displayed not only that logo but the SEC’s “It just means more” mantra.

The 10 flag poles along the top of the east-side upper deck all carried the blue SEC flags.

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The poles atop the massive video board in the south end zone featured flags of each of the SEC’s members, from Alabama to Vanderbilt.

The festivities kicked off late Sunday night with a 5k run that ended on the stadium’s 50-yard line, followed by a fireworks show at midnight when OU’s move to the SEC was official.

They continued throughout Monday with events not only in Norman but in Oklahoma and Tulsa as well.

Then they wrapped up at the stadium, with the evening party which concluded with appearances from OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, school president Joseph Harroz Jr., and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

“We are in a new era of college athletics, a new era of the Southeastern Conference,” Sankey said of the SEC’s move to add OU and Texas.

Sankey, Harroz and Castiglione came to the event from a black-tie gala honoring the move.

“I’ll tell you this right now, the heart and soul of the University of Oklahoma is here right now,” Harroz said, pointing to the largely T-shirt-and-shorts crowd gathered on the field and scattered in the stands. “This is Sooner Nation.”

Castiglione was greeted on stage by “Return of the Mack.”

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“What happens when elite joins elite? That’s here,” Castiglione said. “... We have set the scene, but it’s about not today, but tomorrow, the days and weeks and months and years ahead.”

Castiglione’s words teased the Toby Rowland scene-setter played just afterward.

“What if? What if Oklahoma joined a tradition virtually unequaled across these United States?” Rowland said. “A conference of Bo and Payton and Barkley and Pistol Pete. Of Herschel and Shaq and Saban and The Bear? … We’re about to find out.”

The scenes of Bo Jackson, Payton Manning, Charles Barkley, Pete Maravich Herschel Walker, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Saban and Bear Bryant flashed along with highlights of Billy Vessels, Brian Bosworth, Jason White, Alvan Adams, Maggie Nichols, Jocelyn Alo and others.

About an hour before the trio took the stage, a video narrated by ESPN’s Marty Smith brought together the traditions of the SEC — from the Iron Bowl to the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party and more — to the deep tradition of OU football.

“So yeah, Oklahoma might be new to the SEC,” Smith said at the end of the video. “But around here, football has just meant more for a long time.”

The night ended with a drone show, starting with the drones forming an outline of the state of Oklahoma.

It continued with the depiction of several sports, drones spelling out “Boomer Sooner,” and finally with the interlocking OU logo alongside the iconic SEC logo.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU-SEC celebration wraps up with drone show above stadium