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Greg Sankey Thinks SEC Playing Football Season Alone is "Not the Wisest Direction"

Tuesday expected to be monumental day for the sport with Big Ten, Pac-12 decisions impending

Heads are spinning and conferences are meeting as the 2020 college football season faces its toughest challenge in the history of its existence. The SEC, led by commissioner Greg Sankey, seems intent on moving forward with the season as planned. 

One theory that's been pondered over the last 24 hours is just how far the SEC would be willing to go to make sure a season remains, even if the other conferences pull out. Sankey appeared on the Dan Patrick Show Tuesday and said that the SEC moving forward with the fall season alone isn't the direction the conference is considering.

"I don’t think that’s the right direction, really," Sankey said.  "Could we? Certainly. There’s a difference between can you do something and should you do something in life.

"We’re actually set up our schedule with our own health protocols; we could, if that’s the circumstance, operate on our own. I’m not sure that’s the wisest direction."

Tuesday is expected to be a monumental day for the sport, one that could see the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences elect to postpone or outright cancel the fall season. If that were to happen, it's been speculated that teams within those conferences would reach out to other Power 5 conferences about trying to set up games in an attempt to play.

Sankey doesn't believe that's a viable option because of all the legalities and fees that would be attached to making such a plan viable.

"There are probably any number of legal, contractual, media – I could go down the list of reasons that that’s not quite practical," Sankey said. 

What it comes down to, at the end of the day, is the advice the conference receives from the Medical Task Force. Sankey said as of now, the conference has been given the go ahead to push forward with a season but if that were to change, the conference would be prepared to act accordingly.

“Were that advice to change, it certainly would be a stopping point," Sankey said. "The indicators are we can right now do what we’re doing in a healthy way.”

Sankey did provide a little bit of hope towards the end of his interview, saying the goals from the conference haven’t been swayed by the media reports in the last few days.

"I’d keep in mind we haven’t made final, final decisions — there is still some time — but we’ve set a start date," Sankey said. "I’d be encouraged by that if I’m a college football fan. We announced opponents. I’d be encouraged by that. We have some medical care guidelines. That’s encouraging. We’re still today. On Sunday, it was all over if I read social media, but we’re still here."