Greg Sankey on state of the SEC: "This is a super league"

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey did not mince words when asked about the state of the conference and the creation of the super league concept. It was going to be a hot topic as SEC Media Days kick off this week from Atlanta. As other conferences grow and the landscape changes, Sankey said the SEC knows exactly who they are.

“We are a super league. When I walk through the recitation, this is a super league,” said Sankey.

The additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten was their response to the SEC’s additions of Texas and Oklahoma a year ago. The moves led people to wonder who would be the next new members of both conferences. No dominos have fallen since as Sankey says he wanted to get this right. He said he wanted he and SEC personnel to talk about these movements carefully rather than reacting too quickly.

“As I visited with our presidents, chancellors and ADs, I didn’t gather that group until the next Wednesday,” Sankey said. “I wanted to make sure I learned what was actually happening. I also didn’t want a story like the Friday after that ‘the SEC presidents are gathering’ and we have this ripple effect of ‘they’re going to do something’. We wanted to be patient. We wanted to communicate.”

While the belief is that this arms race will continue, Sankey says his conference is in no rush to move. The SEC does likely have interest in some other programs and vice versa as multiple schools would be interested in join the ‘super conferences’. However, Sankey says they’re taking a wait and see approach with what happens around them.

“We’re comfortable at 16. There’s no sense of urgency, no sense of panic. We’re gonna be evaluating the landscape. We’re not gonna speculate,” said Sankey. “I am actually watching a lot of this activity operating around us more so than impacting us directly.”

This is conversation that will continue throughout the season and in years to come as those around college football wait and see what comes next. Greg Sankey and the rest of his coaches will all likely answer more questions on the topic this week as members of one of the NCAA’s two super leagues.