Nick Saban voices concern about ‘mega conferences’ being in the best interest of college football
By Keith Farner
Published:
Nick Saban is not a fan of hypothetical questions, and did not appreciate that he was asked on Tuesday at SEC Media Days about conference expansion and whether the SEC would expand to 18 or 20 teams in the next several years.
“I have no idea,” Saban said, and then again reiterated that he doesn’t like those types of questions. “That could be as hypothetical of any I’ve ever been asked. I do think there is some tendency to, as current events sort of indicate, that mega conferences may be something in the future. It’s not my job or my role to understand the dynamics of what’s in the best interest of college football, the SEC, other conferences in terms of how they expand. But this is always something that has happened.”
Saban cautioned that a move to mega conferences could likely change competitive balance and call it into question.
“I’m not here to say we should have it, or we shouldn’t have it, but if we have 2 20-team leagues, how’s that going to impact all the people that are not in those leagues,” Saban said.
Saban understands that the SEC has a great league, and also made 2 quality additions last year in Oklahoma and Texas.
“I think there are a lot of underlying dynamics from a business standpoint that could impact and affect how this happens, if it does happen in the future,” Saban said. “For right now, we have 14 teams in our league for the next couple of years and we have some really, really good teams in our league. It’s a very competitive league. You’ve got to be on task each and every week that you play and that’s kind of what we’re trying to stay focused on.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
