The Southeastern Conference’s media days kicked off on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, with commissioner Greg Sankey taking the podium alongside coaches and players from the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies and Missouri Tigers.
The Grand Hyatt Hotel is hosting the 2023 event, which runs from Monday to Thursday. There were plenty of eyebrow-raising moments as media members prepared for the start of the 2023 SEC season, which begins Aug. 26 when Hawaii plays at Vanderbilt.
Aria Gerson of the Nashville Tennessean penned a post early Tuesday morning reviewing the winners and losers from the first day, which included commissioner Greg Sankey’s call on Congress to set national standards for athlete compensation — specifically in reference to name, image and likeness compensation in college athletics.
Gerson declared “state NIL laws” as a loser, with the following explanation.
Sankey condemned the patchwork of state NIL laws, saying there should be uniform rules that apply to everyone, and that high school and college athletes shouldn’t have to spend so much time figuring out the specific legal statutes of their individual states in order to earn money.
Although it’s unlikely Sankey’s comments will actually result in a nationwide standard, the variety of state laws have continued to take a hit among leaders in the college sports world.
The 2023 edition of SEC media days continues on Tuesday starting at 10:05 a.m. EDT with the Vanderbilt Commodores, Georgia Bulldogs, Auburn Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs taking the podium, respectively. The event is being televised on the SEC Network.
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