SEC’s Greg Sankey warns of conference-only rules if Congress fails on college sports

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said Wednesday the league won’t shy away from conversations about adopting its own rules to address issues in college sports if Congress fails to establish national standards. In fact, those discussions have already begun.

Sankey spoke at SEC basketball media days in Birmingham, where basketball-related questions were few and far between.

He said the conference will continue to push for federal help but could take a more active role in determining its own policies if Congress falls short.

“If change is not accessed or not achieved at that national level, there will be more and more conversation about how we as a conference function and our own decision-making,” Sankey said. “We have had rules in the past that apply only to our conference that are more restrictive generally than what might happen nationally. That type of conversation has been initiated, and I would expect it to continue, but we’ll wait to see what happens at the congressional level.”

Last month, the Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill that would be the first specifically intended to regulate college sports, an attempt to end “chaos” in an industry that has been upended by skyrocketing athlete payments and near-unrestricted transfers between schools.

The 77-22 vote to pass the legislation is the strongest effort yet by Congress to set national regulations governing payments to college athletes for their name, image and likeness and how often they can transfer. It would give the NCAA new authority over those rules and limited antitrust protections to enforce them.

The measure is now before the House, where uncertainty about next steps has only been magnified by the midterm elections coming up next month.

Sankey insisted that national standards are needed to ensure fairness in college sports, especially considering the range of Division I schools and conferences.

“If we want those national championships across all sports given the diversity in Division I, you know, small private colleges that draw from a regional base to large public universities that can put 100,000 people in a football stadium, we need those national standards,” he said.

Expanding the playoff

Sankey, who previously expressed skepticism about expanding the College Football Playoff from 12 to 24 teams, signaled more openness.

“I think I’ve always communicated that we’ve never said no that won’t happen, that won’t be a point of support,” Sankey said. “I think there’s an openness to playoff expansion on our part — I think certainly there’s an openness. Attitudes change over time and perspectives change, and so we’ll see where that leads us from a final decision standpoint.”

The playoff expanded from four to 12 teams in 2024, but after executives failed to reach an expansion agreement, the CFP is using the same model for this season. There is a Dec. 1 deadline to make any changes for next season.

The key hurdle to 24 teams is making up the revenue lost by the elimination of conference championship games to accommodate the extra playoff games, and whether current broadcast partner ESPN — by itself or with other media partners — can put together a financial package that makes sense in the time remaining. ESPN’s new deal starts this year and is worth $7.8 billion over six seasons; it provides the network the first option of adding the first two games in any expansion of the playoff.

Last week, the CFP said discussions were continuing with broadcast partner ESPN after the end of an exclusive negotiating window over media rights.

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said then he was optimistic that the CFP would expand to 24 teams.

“We’ll make some final decisions — probably sooner rather than later — is my expectation,” Sankey said Wednesday.

Pros or college

Sankey also addressed the ongoing feud over whether professional athletes can return to play in college, an issue that put LSU guard RJ Luis, who coach Will Wade said Tuesday has not yet been rostered, in the spotlight. Sankey declined to go into specifics about the Tigers, a founding member of the league that is currently swapping court filings with the school about governance.

Sankey said the SEC has drawn a line when it comes to athletes going pro and then attempting to return to college.

“When you look at the principles up front, somebody who enrolls in college and chooses to depart, that’s where we’ve drawn the line, and we’ll continue to develop those boundary lines,” Sankey said.

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