Greg Sankey pushes SEC's weight around in expansion conversation

If there is a clear winner from conference expansion over the past several years it’s Greg Sankey. The SEC commissioner has built his conference into a powerhouse, and it’s only getting better.

With Oklahoma and Texas on the way by 2025 at the latest, Sankey has every reason to feel good about the future. Speaking with reporters ahead of Monday’s national championship, which features SEC teams Georgia and Alabama, the commissioner touted his conference’s success over recent years.

Sankey noted that the SEC is the only conference that has been represented in the College Football Playoff every year since its inception in 2014. He also claimed that the league engaging in conference expansion was done for the benefit of the sport.

“That’s an enormous give (for the SEC),” he said. “That give was because we have to have college football supported nationally. …We (the SEC) don’t need this.”

Including this season, the SEC has claimed five of the eight national title games in the Playoff era. It has also had at least one team in the championship in seven consecutive seasons. To this, the commissioner addressed the topic of Playoff expansion, saying there is no need for his conference.

“Those who asked (to expand the playoff) are not ready to act,” he said. “It’s in my best interest to leave it at four.”

Sankey also took a shot at the strength of conferences outside the SEC, alluding to a Penn State-Illinois game that went nine overtimes.

“We’re in a nine overtime contest and none of us can accomplish a 2-point conversion,” he quipped.

The most recent wave of conference expansion is the first for the SEC since Greg Sankey became commissioner in 2015. The conference previously added Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12 in 2012, when Sankey was an associate commissioner.

The additions of Oklahoma and Texas was also the first major change among Power 5 conferences since then. Sankey said other conference leaders had been pushing for realignment over the past few seasons, but cooled on the idea following the SEC’s big move.

He added that forcing Alabama and Georgia to play three playoff games to reach a championship would be a “tremendous give.”

The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs already faced each other once this season in the SEC title game. Alabama came out the victor in that one by score of 41-24. Both teams won their Playoff semifinal games, further proving Sankey’s point about the strength of the conference.

Based on his comments, it seems Sankey won’t be looking to make any more additions any time soon. Instead, the commissioner seems perfectly content with what he has entering Monday’s championship game.

Until another conference knocks the SEC off its throne, that is unlikely to change.