As SEC Media Days kicks off, aura of change is everywhere

DALLAS – When the SEC Media Days kicks off here today, the annual spectacle will have all the trappings of the dawning of a new, it-really-just-means-more era.

The first season with blue bloods Texas and Oklahoma. It’s the first in a post-Nick Saban world. The first as the new deal with exclusive rights partner ESPN takes hold. And the first in the age of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

But the aura of even more impactful change is everywhere, with stakeholders girding for the coming paradigm-shifting new financial model in a little more than a year.

Leaders within one of the nation’s two super conferences are working through how they will navigate the historic revenue-sharing ecosystem that will take hold as early as fall 2025.

From Mississippi State and Vanderbilt to Alabama and Georgia, it’s foolish to paint everyone in the robust league with a broad brush. But as Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne said, even most at the highest end of the industry’s food chain will need to make difficult budgetary decisions amid an enormous financial stress test.

SEC has plenty of looming questions

Consider the state of play: The long-form settlement in the House case could be submitted this week to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken, who must certify the landmark agreement in the coming months.

Among the biggest looming questions: What will the roster cap be for football teams and what will the third-party enforcement entity look like?

SEC Media Days also unfolds on the heels of a U.S. appeals court ruling leaving open the possibility that college athletes are employees of their universities – a scenario many in the administrative class are hell-bent on preventing. From the developments in the Johnson case to ongoing proceedings in two National Labor Relations Board cases, the specter of an employee model will hover over the packed football stadiums this fall.

And more imminent questions must be answered in the coming months: Stakeholders seek clarity on how best to disperse some $22 million to athletes to remain Title IX compliant. There’s no consensus among legal experts, much less formal guidance from the U.S. Department of Education.

The SEC is also the land of some of the most ambitious, innovative donor-driven collectives. They can serve an important role in assisting schools to circumvent the so-called salary cap while potentially also providing some liability protection for institutions as third-party entities. How many collectives will look to move in-house?

SEC schools making bold moves

As the industry steadily shifts to a professionalized model, forward-thinking moves are seen throughout the SEC.

In an unprecedented move in the college sports space, the Tiger Athletic Foundation at LSU created a new subsidiary, TAF Services Corporation (TAFSC), which entered a paid services agreement with the LSU-driven NIL collective Bayou Traditions. Through the agreement, TAFSC provides fundraising services for the official LSU athletes collective. Notably, donors will now be able to receive priority points through the Tiger Athletic Foundation.

On another front, Oklahoma is working with Jake Rosenberg, who has spent more than a dozen years as a Philadelphia Eagles executive. Rosenberg is also bringing in his consulting firm, The Athlete Group, to advise on revenue sharing.

Throughout college sports, seismic change is afoot.

Over the next four days, that will be especially clear at the highest rung of the conference hierarchy, where it purportedly carries more meaning.