Who knows how everything is going to wash out in the end, all we have heard and read so far is rampant speculation without any real evidence other than "I heard from an unknown source that he heard, blah, blah."
This all stated, it is obvious that if there was not at the minimum some legitimate interest in making changes from the standpoint of certain conferences and some schools that this would have died and gone away just like it has so often before. The fact that it keeps on popping up, the new presence of the non-denial denials, the timing of the the TV contracts, all lead to the prospects being better than any time in recent history. All it takes is one conference (Big X probably) and one school (Mizzou, ND, ?) to take the first step and then all the others decide to jump rather than get left behind.
OU more than anyone else has a vested interest in the BigX staying put. In terms of finances, fan support, and publicity they are clearly the number two in the conference after UT and thus in a solid position. They get the advantage of being in a conference that consistently contends for national championships and is constantly in the Media without having to vie for those benefits against any other schools that have major advantages over them other than UT. If the conference breaks up and UT leaves OU loses. If UT leaves, chances are aTm goes with them leaving a conference without its major names and draws assuming this was all prompted by Mizzou and kNU starting the process. OU ends up in what becomes essentially a mid-major conference with the remnants of the Big XII and new lower profile replacements. If OU goes SEC with UT as some have speculated the enter a world of schools that are willing to outspend them, outfacility them, (and outcheat them,) to get their share of publicity and the high profile. In the Big XII OU's program is higher budget and priority than all except UT and maybe aTm and kNU. In the SEC they line up behind Florida, Tennessee, Bama, UGA, LSU, and of course the added Texas. Even the lower teams in the SEC like Auburn, Ole Miss, South Carolina are willing to throw resouces at football that OU is not used to contending against.
From what he knows right now Boren may be right but his statements also carry a tone of wishfull thinking on his part.