Greg Sankey: The SEC is lone conference ‘where the name still means something’
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Greg Sankey knows how to deliver a strong statement at SEC Media Days, and he delivered another one on Monday morning.
This year, SEC Media Days is live from Dallas, Texas as the conference officially welcomes Texas and Oklahoma to the mix. It was the SEC’s decision to add the two prominent programs from the Big 12 that set off the latest wave of conference realignment that would ultimately result in the death of the Pac-12 and new-look versions of the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12.
As for any questions about the future landscape of the SEC, Sankey did his best to put those to bed by proclaiming 16 teams is the SEC’s current reality “and 16 is our tomorrow.” He didn’t stop there though, taking a not-so-subtle shot at the other conference expansion moves around the country.
According to Sankey, the SEC is the only conference “where the name still means something” due to the regional nature of the league. He also claimed expansion moves by the SEC helped restore historic rivalries without stretching the travel limits of student-athletes.
“We know who we are in the Southeastern Conference. We’re the one conference at this level where the name still means something,” proclaimed Sankey. “The Southeastern part of the United States, where when we expanded, we actually restored historic rivalries while adding only 100 miles to the longest campus-to-campus trip our student-athletes will experience.”
The same cannot be said for the current makeup of the other power leagues in the country. In the Big Ten, teams will travel from coast-to-coast with programs out west such as Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC traveling as far east as New Jersey (Rutgers) and Maryland in conference play.
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The ACC is now in a similar situation after adding Cal, Stanford and SMU. While SMU will have an easier transition, Cal and Stanford face the prospects of traveling to Boston College, Miami and Syracuse among others in league play.
The Big 12 has been more stretched across the country since previously adding West Virginia and then more recently adding UCF and BYU. But things will stretch even further in the Big 12 this fall with the arrival of Utah, Arizona and Arizona State and the re-introduction of Colorado.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
