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SEC going alone over CFP, Save College Sports Act isn't leverage, it's reality | Opinion - SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey stated the possibility of the conference breaking away from the NCAA is a real option.
- Both the SEC and Big Ten oppose the current Save College Sports Act, partly due to revenue sharing and expansion limits.
- Sankey's comments reflect a growing frustration that could lead to a defining moment for the future of college sports.
TAMPA, FL Late in the regurgitation of the long, cold offseason, while wading through the nauseating airing of never-ending grievances, a clear and decisive option slipped through the fog of Greg Sankeys state of the SEC message to begin SEC Media Days.
You say option, I say middle finger.
When the commissioner of the SEC declares publicly that the possibility of his conference breaking away from everyone else is real and isnt a leverage point, its probably time to listen.
No matter how he couches it.
No matter how he declares a responsibility to be a steward of college sports not just the SEC and help guide it into the great unknown.
PROGRAM RANKINGS: Top 25 | Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Big 12 No matter how he thanks members of Congress trying to push the Save College Sports Act camel through the eye of a legislative needle.
No matter how he deftly tiptoes through the obvious elephant in the room, and desperately tries to show solidarity with other college sports leaders with meaningful reform.
Sankey has had enough.
Or more apropos: the SEC presidents and chancellors have had enough.
Enough of Congress trying to shove their ability to earn through media rights deals and potential expansion into an unescapable box through the guise of whats good for all of college sports.
Enough of a 24-team College Football Playoff pushed by the rest of college football, a watering-down of not only the postseason, but the sport itself.
Enough of schools some within the SEC refusing to abide by rules, and using litigation to avoid enforcement.
Enough of schools including nearly every team within the SEC flouting the spirit of private NIL deals, and using the secondary market to destroy any semblance of financial competitive balance.
Enough of being told their conference championship game the foundation of the leagues wild success over the last three decades has to go.
By some coaches and athletic directors in their own conference, no less.
Enough of being forced into a structural, logistical and financial model that they say, more than anything, doesnt work for them.
So yeah, there are options.
The same go-it-alone options Georgia president Jere Morehead and Mississippi State president Mark Keenum two of the most powerful presidents in college sports stated publicly in May during the leagues spring meetings.
Nothing has changed because, well, nothing has changed.
Time its running out on the Save College Sports Act, a bill that neither the SEC nor Big Ten support in its current state because, in part, both dont want to share media rights revenue, and dont want expansion limitations.
But understand this: Congress doesnt need the SEC and Big Tens approval to push the bill through.
If the bill goes through as-is without the blessing of the two super conferences the SEC and Big Ten are left with a difficult decision.
Agree to the legislation, and deal with any potential unwinding of its ability to earn or expand, or go it alone.
The SEC and Big Ten think the same; the SECs presidents have simply been more vocal.
I do not believe that is a leverage point, Sankey said.
I think thats just honest communication.
More than anything, its a level of frustration.
One that wont end with the passing of a Congressional bill, or expansion of a postseason or any other magic bullet theory that may or may not gain control of the annual free-moving, free-agent free-for-all that has kneecapped college sports.
Like it or not, the going it alone talk ist going anywhere.
I know the pride with which I spoke of (winning) 13 national championships, and there is meaning and value, Sankey said.
But that national organization must function in a healthy manner, otherwise that simmering will continue.
All the way to a defining moment for college sports.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network.
Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
Listen to him daily, from 12-2 p.m., on 1010XL-Jacksonville.