Mr. CFB: Does SEC-Big Ten Alliance Mean That College Football Is Headed To A Crossroad?Maybe.

The two wealthiest and most powerful conferences are joining forces to help tackle the biggest challenges facing college athletics. Now what?

Having done this a for a while, I have to admit that I was suprised last Friday when the Southeastern Conference announced that it was forming a "joint advisory group" with the Big Ten in an effort to address the unprecedented challenges now facing college athletics--particuarly college football.

In the past, getting the SEC and Big Ten to work together on weighty issues like NIL and the transfer portal was akin to watching Coke and Pepsi argue over who gets the Super Bowl beverage concession. It was usually hard to find common gound.

 The late Mike Slive, commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2015, respected Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany  (1989-2020) and the feeling was mutual. But they did not exchange Christmas cards. They were the two most powerful people in college athletics. And they were both very competitive.

But the world has changed.  A lot. And so has the relationship between the two alpha dogs in college athletics.

So here's my theory.  Take it for what it is worth. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti now find themselves in a power vacuum the likes of which the NCAA has never seen. The NCAA has never been popular but now things are getting downright hostile. 

Specifically:

 **--Donde Plowman, the forceful Chancellor of the University of Tennesssee, took college athletics' organizing body to the woodshed over an NCAA investigation into Tennessee for what it said was a violation of NCAA rules pertainiing to benefits for athletes under NIL regulations.  Plowman responded with a  a blistering  letter calling the  NCAA, among other things,  "a bully, chaotic, failing, flawed, and intellectually dishonest."

Hope she never gets mad at me.

**--The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia have filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the NCAA calling  for it to lift its rules on NIL benefits. The NCAA is currently the defendant in five anti-trust suits. And that number is only going to grow.

**--The ACC and Florida State currently have dueling lawsuits against each other. Florida State has made no secret of its desire to get out of the ACC and has accused the league of mismanagement of the television rights. The ACC sued Florida State for failing to live up to its aggreement as an ACC member and asked for a trial, which could include damages.

**--That leadership vacuum has led to the current chaos surrounding NIL and the transfer portal. When Nick Saban retired as the head coach at Alabama, the transfer portal was opened for 30 days and every Crimson Tide player was free to leave.

But a release from the SEC on Friday emphasized that this is not a power play by the SEC and the Big Ten.

At least not yet.

Said the release:

"These challenges, including but not limited to recent court decisions, pending litigation, a patchwork of state laws and complex governance proposals compel the two conferences to take a leadershio role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports."

Translation?

Look no further than this fine piece from my friend Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/sec-big-ten-advisory-group-stands-as-coded-threat-to-ncaa-figure-it-out-or-well-go-off-ourselves/

Dennis writes, and I agree, that if the SEC-Big Ten alliance make a recommendation for change, the rest of the conferences would be well-advised to give it consideration. Because the SEC and Big Ten always have the option of going off on their own.

Here is the last paragraph in the release: "The advisory board will have no authority to act independently and will only serve as a consulting body. Its composition, charter and timetable as well as the specific questions it might examine  have yet to be determined."

I get it. Coming up with solutions to these complex problems is going to take a while. But I can't help but feel that we are at a critical juncture in college football, especially with the 12-team playoff starting this season. We've kicked the can down the road too long. What we have now is not sustainable. And everybody knows it.

But for the SEC and Big Ten to jump out there first to tackle these issues means something.

It means  that this is a very big deal.

Or it could be.

Stay tuned.