Greg Sankey: We don't need to be in four time zones to draw interest on the West Coast

On the “Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey took stock of the landscape of college sports after a week of realignment tore the landscape asunder. And though the SEC played a role in kickstarting some of these shifts, Sankey bristled at the notion that he was doing so at the behest of other entities.

As the SEC and Big Ten have consolidated many of the biggest names and teams in the sport, their main TV partners — ESPN and Fox — have accordingly signed over more lucrative contracts. But Sankey said the impetus for a 2021 move to add Texas and Oklahoma to the league he oversees in 2024 was not being phoned in from the league’s media partner.

“That’s a myth, that’s false,” Sankey said on Finebaum.

He added that they were sensible expansion candidates in terms of brand and visibility and allowed the SEC to keep a contiguous footprint, timezone-wise. And he took a shot across the bow of a few of his prime competitors in the Big Ten and Big 12.

“We have this contiguous group. We don’t need to be in four time zones to generate interest on the West Coast,” Sankey said.

With USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington set to join the Big Ten, the league will cover all but one time zone in the contiguous United States — Mountain Time — and the Big 12 will be in also be in three, all but the Pacific Time Zone.

So, while Sankey might not be totally accurate in his assessment about all four time zones, his overall point is clear: The interest from alumni and outside fans for SEC football, in particular, reaches beyond just the geographic confines of the league.

Sankey also said the 12-team playoff format in 2024 and 2025 might get tweaked

The College Football Playoff is set to expand to 12 teams with the 2024 season, but whether it will do so in the currently planned format remains to be seen.

Already there have been questions about whether the number of automatic bids for conference champions might change in light of the massive upheaval surrounding the Pac-12 in recent weeks. Currently the Pac-12 is only slated to have four teams in the 2024 season.

The bottom line right now is that College Football Playoff administrators are still somewhat in wait-and-see mode.

“It remains to be seen, but how many FBS conferences will exist in 30 or 60 days, particularly as we head into next season if you want to lengthen that timeframe?” Sankey said on Tuesday.

“We’ve been engaged in the right kind of conversations around future media opportunities, around the logistical issues and decisions related to the first round of games on campus and how do we move that into bowl games. But we do have changed circumstances.”