Greg Sankey explains ‘2-hour plane ride’ metric for considering new additions to SEC
By Jacob Moss
Published:
With further conference expansion and realignment on the horizon, many of the top leagues around the country are starting to take stock of any potential new additions that could be added in the near future.
The SEC in particular has been the source of tons of speculation regarding new additions after they added 2 of the biggest brands in all of college football during the last round of realignment.
On Friday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey mentioned that a West Coast school approached him, supposedly to inquire about entry into the SEC. Sankey explained why he didn’t even have the conversation:
“I don’t even have that conversation,” Sankey said (per On3’s Brett McMurphy). “I’m the one person who didn’t take away from the Pac-12. If you play any sport in the SEC, you have at most a 2-hour plane ride from Point A to Point B.”
Given the insane travel times that former Pac-12 programs who have made the jump to more eastward conferences have to deal with, Sankey’s stipulation makes a lot of sense.
If the SEC is going to add more programs, and all indications are that they will, then it looks like they will only be coming from the geographic area shared by the rest of the conference’s current members.
