Greg Sankey: SEC isn’t really increasing as of now

ATLANTA — Commissioner Greg Sankey tackled an elephant in the place all through his “Condition of the SEC speech” at the Faculty Football Corridor of Fame on Monday morning as he ushered in this week’s SEC Media Times occasion. On the subject of realignment all around university football and the SEC potentially introducing a lot more courses in addition to Texas and Oklahoma, Sankey held firm that his league is just not interested in increasing even more at as of the instant.

“There’s no feeling of urgency in our league,” he explained. “No stress in reaction to others’ choices. We know who we are. We are self-assured in our collective strength and we are uniquely positioned to proceed to present remarkable activities educationally and athletically, together with world-course guidance to scholar athletes.”

The college football planet was stunned before this summertime when USC and UCLA abruptly introduced a transfer from the Pac-12 to the Huge Ten in 2024. That gorgeous advancement led to huge speculation on what dominoes will be the following to slide in the realignment wave that started at SEC Media Days past summer with the news of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC broke.

Sankey’s responses never rule out the frame of mind shifting in the upcoming, however.

“Do we face headwinds in university athletics? Unquestionably. It is actually not new. It is a decades-outdated problem, and all those a long time-old issues now rest firmly on our agendas. The SEC will not be complacent, even with the acknowledgement that we are in a placement of energy,” he reported.

Sankey is relaxed with in which his meeting stands ideal now, but you can find however operate to be carried out on the enlargement entrance. Texas and Oklahoma are slated to be a part of no later on than 2025, but the Major 12 is adding 4 groups subsequent period — one particular year in advance of the Bruins and Trojans be a part of the Big 10. The going components around the state have led to speculation that the Longhorns and Sooners could speed up the process if it can make sense from a economic viewpoint. 

The commissioner, nevertheless, isn’t really the 1 pulling individuals strings.

“Which is not up to me. That is about the connection among Oklahoma, Texas and the Significant 12,” Sankey claimed. “We are concentrated on the addition coming July 1, 2025.”

The Large Ten’s transfer to turn into a national superpower caught Sankey off guard though he was on holiday, but he still sights his long term membership as top-quality to what the Major Ten did with USC and UCLA. He cited that the rivalries that will be restored — like the now-dormant Texas-Texas A&M rivalry — as the principal rationale that his moves on the realignment entrance do much more for his conference than Kevin Warren’s at the Major Ten.