Greg Sankey expresses excitement to spark old rivalries with expansion

The Southeastern Conference’s expansion to 16 teams following the additions of Texas and Oklahoma will change the SEC as we know it. Switching to a division-less format allows the two newcomers to re-hash some old rivalries that haven’t been played regularly for decades.

Joining On3’s JD PicKell on the Hard Count, Sankey ran through multiple rivalries that he’s excited to see be renewed.

“One of the unique aspects of our expansion is that it will restore old rivalries. … The Texas-Arkansas rivalry that goes back decades,” Sankey told PicKell. “Obviously, [Texas] A&M and Texas, but also Oklahoma and Missouri were a part of the Big 8.”

Another question that the SEC is trying to answer pertains to having the divisional format dissolved upon Texas and OU’s arrival. How will that affect rivalry scheduling? Sankey is just as concerned about it as some fans are.

“We wanted to honor those rivalries, but from a scheduling standpoint, that’s actually a key question for us in those games of passion, high-intense rivalry games,” Sankey said. “How often are they going to be played? Every other year or every year? I would hope so.”

It wouldn’t just be the incoming rivalries being impacted — but also the long-standing rivalries within the SEC. Games like the Iron Bowl are a staple of college football that interests fans from across the United States on a yearly basis. The same goes for the Red River Showdown. Every other rivalry will suffer the same way: The Battle for the Golden Boot, the Egg Bowl, among others.

One solution could see the SEC give teams one or two pre-set annual opponents, the same way they do for divisional opponents currently. Those spots would be reserved for the team’s two biggest rivalry matchups.

That is just a theory at this point, however, and the conference is still hashing out the details in figuring out the most efficient way to go about savoring long-standing rivalries in a division-less format.

Still, the SEC made it a point to ensure that those rivalries would be preserved for at least one more season in 2024. Every rivalry game that Sankey mentioned, the Iron Bowl, Red River Showdown and more have all been made official when the SEC released their 2024 conference schedule.

The release of the schedule allows Sankey and his group to determine what the next course of action will be regarding scheduling — while also appeasing fanbases that look forward to these rivalry matchups on a yearly basis.