📡 More SEC football expansion? Listen closely to what Greg Sankey says about SEC football expansion strategy.

[Bama News]

Listen closely to what Greg Sankey says about SEC football expansion strategy | Toppmeyer

More important than what Greg Sankey said about SEC expansion was what he didn’t say. All eyes are on the ACC.

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Greg Sankey lamented the destruction of the Pac-12, he subtly jabbed at the Big Ten and he bragged about the SEC. He repeated his line that the conference is focused on 16 teams.

The SEC’s 2021 seizure of Oklahoma and Texas became “the envy of everyone in college football,” he said, and the SEC doesn’t need to stretch beyond two time zones to generate global interest. (There’s that familiar Sankey elbow directed at the Big Ten.)

“We’re in an enormously healthy place,” the SEC commissioner said Tuesday on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”

More important than what Sankey said about expansion, though, was what he didn’t say.

He didn’t say the SEC is closed for business. In fact, he left the door open to additional growth.

“We're always going to be attentive to what's happening around us,” he said. “And perhaps there'll be some opportunity, but it needs to be a lot of philosophical alignment. And it's not something where we're actively out recruiting institutions right now.”

The boss of the nation’s most powerful conference speaks in code, so let me put it clearly: The SEC isn’t going to napalm the ACC, but if that conference’s fissures lead to fracture, the SEC won’t be a spectator while the Big Ten invades the South.

“I’m not a recruiter. I’ve said that repeatedly,” Sankey said. “We have a responsibility to look, from an interested standpoint, at what’s happening around us.”

For more than a year, the Big 12 posted an “Accepting new members!” sign in its storefront, and the ACC is now picking through leftovers. That’s not the SEC’s style. It’s too cocksure to look desperate. The SEC’s expansion playbook is one of stealth growth.

Sankey might not be a recruiter, but he’s an opportunist. When Texas and Oklahoma wanted out of the Big 12, the SEC made sure it was the landing place for those two elite brands.

Unlike the Big Ten, SEC expansion is mindful of the conference’s well-crafted identity built on the pillars of Southern culture and football pedigree. The conference historically expands into neighboring terrain.

North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson remain ACC brands that mesh with the SEC’s culture and geographical footprint.

The ACC’s grant of rights runs through 2036, and I believe Sankey would prefer that contract continue to glue its membership in place, just like I believe he wanted the Pac-12 to fend off raids.

The status quo is good for the SEC. But if the ACC cracks despite Sankey’s wishes, I think the SEC would pounce.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

One thing about Sankey, I've had my issues with him, but he's smart, measured, and calculating. He's going to outmaneuver the rest, more often than not, and he's not going to get in line behind just anyone... as we saw during Covid.

 

[mando]

One thing about Sankey, I've had my issues with him, but he's smart, measured, and calculating. He's going to outmaneuver the rest, more often than not, and he's not going to get in line behind just anyone... as we saw during Covid.

He does seem to be very calculated and does not shoot from the hip. Very steady and methodical decision maker.

 

[BamaFan334]

One thing about Sankey, I've had my issues with him, but he's smart, measured, and calculating. He's going to outmaneuver the rest, more often than not, and he's not going to get in line behind just anyone... as we saw during Covid.

Hard not to be those things after what Slive built. He was given the keys to the Ferrari, and power was already there. Not taking anything away from him, but you can be aggressive qhen you're already the big dog on the block.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Hard not to be those things after what Slive built. He was given the keys to the Ferrari, and power was already there. Not taking anything away from him, but you can be aggressive qhen you're already the big dog on the block.

He certainly walked into a very healthy situation, but I've seen many, many folks do the same, in all walks of life, at all different levels, who ended up eventually crashing the plane. I'll give an example though of his measured leadership... the SEC could have had USC and UCLA. Most people in his position, at this point in time, I think would have made that deal. Sankey listened, but passed. I think that was the right call, because bringing them in wouldn't have been the best potential, long-term play for the conference.

I do still think he has his faults, but as commissioners go at nearly every level of college and pro sports, he's at the top IMO.

 

[BamaFan334]

He certainly walked into a very healthy situation, but I've seen many, many folks do the same, in all walks of life, at all different levels, who ended up eventually crashing the plane. I'll give an example though of his measured leadership... the SEC could have had USC and UCLA. Most people in his position, at this point in time, I think would have made that deal. Sankey listened, but passed. I think that was the right call, because bringing them in wouldn't have been the best potential, long-term play for the conference.

I do still think he has his faults, but as commissioners go at nearly every level of college and pro sports, he's at the top IMO.

That would have been terrible. I think the Big Ten took them because they couldn't stand idle while we bring in Oklahoma and Texas. If I ran the SEC I never would have ever thought to look out West.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

That would have been terrible. I think the Big Ten took them because they couldn't stand idle while we bring in Oklahoma and Texas. If I ran the SEC I never would have ever thought to look out West.

Agree. It has sort of devolved into an arms race at this point. It’s going to the SEC and the Big10 left standing in the end, and the SEC is going to have a conference layout that makes sense but also packs the usual power.