Greg Sankey denies any ‘rift’ with Big Ten over CFP disagreements
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Greg Sankey appeared on the SEC Network with Paul Finebaum on Thursday, with SEC Media Days in Atlanta coming to a close.
Of course, College Football Playoff expansion came up, specifically around the 4+4+2+2+1+3 system preferred by the Big Ten. The SEC, though, prefers a 5+11 model. And that ties in to ongoing discussions around whether or not to expand the SEC schedule to 9 games, especially given a report from Brett McMurphy on Thursday that unless the SEC assures the B1G it is expanding to 9 games, any discussion about the B1G changing its mind would be a non-starter.
Sankey took a moment to clear the air.
“Let me say clearly on the airwaves, there is no rift between the SEC and Big Ten commissioners,” he said. “We have different views. That’s okay. We talked this morning. We talked about our different views. Disagreement’s fine. There’s going to be a lot of times when we agree. There’s going to be times when we agree on most things (and) we have to work through them. And then times we’re gonna have different perspectives. That’s okay.”
Sankey added that he has been in constant communication with B1G commissioner Tony Petitti, saying that the two spoke “four times last week” and talked again on Thursday “about three or four issues”.
And he took the opportunity to offer a note to the entire nation, as well.
“America, you want leaders who have different perspectives, who can call each other (and) work together. This is my message to the United States of America now,” he said.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
