Despite the ongoing NCAA realignment becoming the hottest summer trend since White Claws, don’t expect the SEC to be the latest to jump in on the movement.
While appearing on The Paul Finebaum show on Tuesday, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey vocalized his sadness in response to the flurry of moves over the last week that, arguably, has the Pac-12 on the verge of collapse. As a brief refresher, Oregon and Washington were the latest schools to announce their intent to join the Big Ten in 2024, joining USC and UCLA. Meanwhile, Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah all made the news official that they would be joining the Big 12 in 2024, following in the footsteps of Colorado.
The whirlwind of departures naturally begs the question of whether the SEC would follow suit in exploring expansion. But outside of adding Oklahoma and Texas in 2024, Sankey believes the conference is in healthy shape and in no need of expanding to additional timezones:
“We’re in an enormously healthy place. We’re not in the middle of the current movement efforts.”
SEC Commissioner @GregSankey on the latest wave of CFB consolidation:
"We're in an enormously healthy place. We're not in the middle of the current movement efforts."
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) August 8, 2023
Once the 2023 college football season draws to a close, the SEC will officially expand from 14 to 16 teams, with the additions of the Sooners and Longhorns, while foregoing the current SEC West/East format in favor of a division-less conference. The expansion in 2024 allows for the return of classic rivalries on the gridiron, such as the Lone Star Showdown between Texas A&M and Texas.
At the end of the day, conference realignment is done with one priority: revenue. Schools such as Oregon and USC are seeking more exposure and reach through the Big Ten’s established media deals, while the conferences themselves are hoping to compete with the heavyweights of the Power Five (soon to be Power Four).
The reality is that the SEC, and its respective schools, don’t have the same issues as the aforementioned programs and conferences. In an in-depth analysis of the Power Five’s athletic department’s revenue for the 2022 fiscal year, USA TODAY Sports found that the SEC led the way with an average of $159.1 million in revenue generated. The conference’s 13 public schools combined for $2.17 billion in total operating revenue, and that’s before adding the likes of Oklahoma and Texas next year.
The only rationale left for the SEC to expand would be in an effort to add the West Coast timezone to their depository. But as the conference seeks its fifth-straight national championship, it’s safe to say that those on the West Coast will gladly tune in to see the best of the best eke it out on the football field, and that means tuning into the SEC football season.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Pete on Twitter: @PeteThreee.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=5]