Greg Sankey Calls for National NIL Standard at SEC Media Days
ATLANTA — On Monday morning, the 2022 SEC Football Media Days opened with conference commissioner Greg Sankey making his opening remarks to the media members present.
It didn't take long for the topic of Name, Image and Likeness to take center stage.
Heading into this year's media days, NIL was expected to be a hot topic of conversation. Prior to last season, media days occurred just several months after NIL legislation had swept the states of the SEC, but with it came a plethora of unknowns.
This year is different, with over a year of the wild west frontier of NIL having been explored. Today, while many questions have found their answers, there are certainly still plenty of creases to be ironed out.
During his opening remarks on Monday morning, Sankey stated that he is still calling for a national solution. While he admitted that with a midterm election coming up might play a role in Congress not moving forward on NIL legislation, the issues would still be much better addressed on a national level rather than state-by-state legislation.
"The reality was, when I had that conversation in March, I wasn't looking necessarily to this Congress to be the solution just because of the timing," Sankey said. "We've had conversations with leaders from both sides of the aisles, and we'll continue to do so because regardless of what's happened recently or what happens with the election, we need a bipartisan solution for this national concept to move forward.
"If we don't, then we're going to be left not simply creating conference rules, we're going to have to deal with state laws that vary in our region. That was actually part of our conversation in Destin as well. But the focus will remain on a national solution, and Congress is the venue for that option.
"NIL is certainly poised to remain an important topic discussed by most, if not all SEC football coaches this week."
When Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher went through their public spat regarding NIL and collectives earlier this year, Sankey took a semi-neutral approach to the situation, instead opting to condemn both coaches for their open remarks.
The issue between Saban and Fisher stemmed from collectives and their alleged use in recruiting, which is currently not allowed according to the NCAA's guidance that was issued earlier this year. With the advent of said collectives, enforcing NIL rules and regulations has become an issue that many institutions and fans see an an impossible task for the NCAA to oversee.
Sankey closed his discussion on the matter by calling for a national, wide-sweeping standard one final time.
"A clear, enforceable standard is needed to support national competition and the continuing ability to conduct national championships – the CFP, the Final Four, the College World Series – and every other national championship," Sankey said.
