What we learned as Greg Sankey evaluates aftershocks of conference realignment

Throughout the tumultuous 10 days that have reshaped the future of college athletics, Greg Sankey has not played a main role. For the most part, the SEC commissioner has sat off quietly.

The Big Ten and Big 12 have picked off programs left and right. The Pac-12 is down to four schools, surviving on life support. Florida State and Clemson appear to be pounding on the SEC’s front door, too.

Sankey has stayed in the background. The SEC’s decision to add Oklahoma and Texas in the summer of 2021 arguably set off this round of conference dominoes.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sankey aired out his first comments following Friday’s consequential day of movement. Speaking on the Paul Finebaum Show, the league’s eighth commissioner commented on a slew of topics including the future of the College Football Playoff, possibility of SEC expansion and where this leaves the NCAA’s fight for NIL reform.

“Certainly, you make decisions about money, but money should follow,” Sankey said. “It shouldn’t be in the lead. And so those are still part of our ethos, part of what we think about — we want to maximize our revenue, but we have this contiguous group that has a national platform. We don’t need to be in four time zones to generate interest on the West Coast, or really across the globe.”

Greg Sankey, SEC not actively recruiting

At the end of last week, Greg Sankey had a video conference of with SEC presidents and chancellors. The group is in unison that the league does not need to go out and recruit more institutions.

“We’re always going to be attentive to what’s happening around us, and perhaps there will be some opportunity,” Sankey said. “But there has to be some philosophical alignment. And it’s not something where we’re out actively recruiting other institutions.”

The messaging plays against the backdrop of Florida State’s efforts to leave the ACC. The Seminoles’ Board of Trustees held a video call that at one point crossed more than 2,000 streamers on YouTube last week. With various trustees stressing their concerns about the Seminoles staying in the ACC, President Rick McCullough stated the school would have to seriously consider leaving the conference unless for a “radical” change in revenue distribution. The ACC’s average distribution to members was $39.4 million in the 2021-22 school year.

There’s a reason Florida State is trying to get out of their current deal; the ACC’s contract with ESPN expires in 2036. But the Seminoles would have to pay a $120 million exit fee and challenge their existing grant of rights, which gives the ACC media rights to its member schools for the length of the TV contract. No Power 5 school has ever challenged a grant of rights. Florida State would also have to notify the ACC of its plan to leave the conference for the 2024 season by Aug. 15.

Sankey is not biting.

“We are in an enormously healthy place and not in the middle of the movement efforts,” he said Tuesday.

Greg Sankey pushes for reexamination of CFP format

The College Football Playoff is scheduled to expand to 12 teams in 2024. With just four teams remaining the 108-year-old Pac-12, that remains to be seen. The conference could crumble for good in the coming days. While expansion does start next season, many have approached it as a trial run than a plan cemented for the future.

With the wave of realignment, that test case could be altered along with revenue distribution. Suggestions that have already started to be floated around could include a top 12 or top eight format.

 “Even here in the SEC, we wanted to see college football be strong nationally,” Sankey said. “And we have not seen a west-of-the-Rockies participant in the playoff since, I believe, 2016. So the expansion was about making sure we brought in western football. Well, now what’s happened is western football has come into other conferences. The net of that is circumstances have changed, and I think it’s wise for us to take a step back and reconsider what the format might look like given these changing circumstances.”

The SEC commissioner still believes in an expanded 12-team format, but how those 12 bids are constructed could be revamped. A change could also better place his conference in CFP rankings, such as at-large bids having a shot to make the top-four seeds.

“It remains to be seen, but how many FBS conferences will exist in 30 or 60 days?” he said.

NIL mandate remains ‘hill to climb’

Through the first two years of college athletics’ new era, many stakeholders in the college athletics sphere have lamented the shortcomings of NIL.

New NCAA president Charlie Baker has been joined by conference commissioners, athletic directors and coaches on Capitol Hill in recent months, pushing Congress to enact an NIL mandate. For better or worse, NIL has sent an influx of cash into athletes’ pockets. Most NIL activity has come through NIL collectives – a collection of boosters raising funds – with inducements in recruiting and the transfer portal. 

But conference realignment could setback any momentum Sankey and Baker built on Capitol Hill in recent months. After pleading for legislation, the role of TV partners in the reshuffling of conferences could make it hard to convince elected officials to manage athletes’ compensation. With Congress currently on recess until Sept. 1, a real answer won’t be known for a few weeks.

“We’ve always known that the effort to have a Congressional outcome is a hill to climb,” Sankey said. “I don’t think that hill has changed.”

The SEC commissioner did give props to Baker during his time with Finebaum. The former Massachusetts governor has prioritized sports betting since taking office. A report released last week suggested the NCAA needs to spend more time preparing athletes for the wagering landscape.

“Charlie walked into this situation, none of his own making,” Sankey said. “He was an enormously popular governor of Massachusetts, a Republican in a more blue state. Reelected and at the end of his term, well, here’s this NCAA opportunity. You certainly have to give him a lot of credit for his willingness to jump into a big challenge. Now he’s seeing how rapidly the landscape can change. Part of the reality is the NCAA is not assigned responsibility for deciding conference membership.”

The NCAA has spent significant time recently formally drafting a more narrowly tailored NIL policy. The narrower proposal that the NCAA Division I Board of Directors green-lighted the Division I Council to formalize last week can’t be approved until January. Primary concepts include formulating a registration process for NIL service providers – such as agents and collectives – creating a standardized contract and establishing disclosure requirements for student-athletes.

Sankey expressed doubt about the college sports model as a whole, too, referencing back to his time as the Transformation Committee’s co-chair.

“I think there are limits on the growth. I think the need to evaluate whether a particular college or university is meeting standards, like under the holistic student-athlete model,” he said. “That was a response to student-athletes asking for a common experience. I don’t think Division I can work well when you have a roomful of 40 or 45 committee members, only 10 of them will speak and then everyone votes. That’s representation without participation.”