Speaking in front of the Jacksonville (Florida) Sports Council on Thursday, first-year SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stopped short of saying he was against league expansion, but labeled the idea as “not a front burner issue” when pushed by Chadd Scott, a radio personality and writer at SportsDayNow.
“My focus has not been on expansion,” Sankey said, according to Scott. “It’s about transition right now and the conversation is about, ‘how do we meet the expectations upon us in such a great way that people continue to want to be affiliates with the SEC?’ I think excellence is attractive but expansion is not a front burner issue for us at the present time.”
Pressed to elaborate on the idea of expansion, Sankey continued: “Acknowledge it’s not a front burner issue. We added two great universities in Texas A&M and Missouri, both members of the American Association of Universities. Great athletics traditions. Contiguous states. There’s probably some information in there that’s useful.”
In a column published Friday, Scott surmises that Sankey wouldn’t be against the idea down the road if it benefits his conference and widens the SEC’s geographical footprint.
A coy response that speaks volumes.
“There’s probably some information in there that’s useful.”
That’s the key sentence. He’s not just whistling Dixie, he’s foreshadowing.
Greg Sankey identified the criteria for the SEC’s next expansion targets if and when that occurs.
- AAU membership. I’ve written all along that academics play a larger role in these decisions than fans or media recognize. Sankey mentioned academics first in his comments. How much more clearly can he make the importance of that factor?
- Great athletic traditions.
- Contiguous states. This encourages me to believe what most commentators have long speculated and that is any further SEC expansion will not come from schools inside the league’s existing footprint.
Schools long-rumored to be in the SEC’s future expansion crosshairs include several from the ACC (Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Virginia) along with Big 12 programs Kansas and Oklahoma, among others.
The previous two SEC commissioners each welcomed two new teams to the mix during their respective tenures — Arkansas and South Carolina (Roy Kramer) and Texas A&M and Mizzou (Mike Slive).
What say you SEC fans, which Power 5 teams would you like to see added to the SEC over the next decade and change?
