SEC commissioner Greg Sankey: ‘No sense of urgency in our league, no panic’
Let the other conferences worry about realignment. The SEC is doing just fine.
“There’s no sense of urgency in our league, no panic in reaction to others’ decisions,” Sankey said in an opening statement Monday at SEC Football Kickoff Media Days.
College sports was thrown into another summer of uncertainty when Southern California and UCLA announced they were departing the Pac-12 and will join the Big Ten beginning with the 2024 football season.
That touched off another round of speculation about conference membership, especially as it involved the Pac-12 but also others like the Big 12 and ACC and other conferences outside the Power Five.
But as college sports is preparing to begin another fall season, realignment is not a front-burner concern for the conference that dominates nationally in several competitions but no more so than football.
Last season, Georgia defeated Alabama for the national championship, making it three straight years of a different national champ from the SEC.
“The Southeastern Conference is stronger now than at any point in its history,” Sankey said.
The SEC touched off the latest realignment period by snagging Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12, in a move that was announced a year ago. The Longhorns and Sooners are contractually obligated to the Big 12 until 2025. Sankey was asked if their move to the SEC could happen earlier.
“That’s not up to me,” Sankey said. “That’s about the relationship between Oklahoma, Texas and the Big 12.”
Could there be more growth in the SEC’s future? ACC schools like Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, Miami and others have been speculated as possible future members. But Sankey sounded like growth isn’t imminent.
“We don’t feel pressured to operate at a number,” Sankey said. “We will watch what happens and be thoughtful, but be nimble.”
This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 12:44 PM with the headline "SEC commissioner Greg Sankey: ‘No sense of urgency in our league, no panic’."