Last month at the Southeastern Conference’s media days event, commissioner Greg Sankey noted that said his league is “very attentive to what’s happening around us.” With the recent insanity surrounding the imminent collapse of the Pac-12, hopefully, Sankey is standing by that statement.
“Do I think it’s done?” he asked in July, responding to a query as to whether or not the SEC’s expansion will abate with the entry of the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners.
“People will say, well, I get to decide that. Right now it appears others are going to decide that before we have to make any decisions,” he presciently added.
Well, the “others” have made some decisions and the dominoes are currently in a free-fall as a result. First, the Colorado Buffaloes darted to the Big 12 starting in the 2024-25 academic year, followed by the Arizona Wildcats, Arizona State Sun Devils and Utah Utes. These moves, of course, came well after the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins also decided to leave the west coast conference.
So what does this mean for the SEC? Or maybe an even better question is, who would they add that is available and drives value?
ACC schools like the North Carolina Tar Heels, Virginia Cavaliers, Florida State Seminoles and Clemson Tigers are mired in contractual issues that include a hefty exit fee and grant of rights that extends through 2036.
“My view is we know who we are,” Sankey said at media days. “We’re comfortable as a league. We’re focused on our growth to 16. We’ve restored rivalries. We’re geographically contiguous with the right kind of philosophical alignment, and we can stay at that level of super conference. When you go bigger, there are a whole other set of factors that have to be considered, and I’m not sure I’ve seen those teased out other than in my mind late at night.”
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