SEC Commissioner talks about changing college sports landscape

Greg Sankey kick started the 2025 SEC Football Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame with his traditional speech, press conference Monday morning.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey speaks to the media during the SEC Media Day at Omni Atlanta Hotel. | Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey made a good point about how much and how quickly college sports is changing when he spoke Monday morning.

“Had I attempted in early June to write out this full set of remarks, it literally would have changed on a daily basis because it seems as if one wakes up and there's a new story, a new opinion, a new piece of commentary, or a new direction that's been suggested,” Sankey said in his opening remarks to kickoff SEC Media Days.

He’s not really even exaggerating much. It may not be every day, but most days there is some kind of development, lawsuit filed, or somebody of importance says something.

A lot of what Sankey talked about was the changing landscape of college sports and the SEC’s role in those changes. He spoke about expanding not just the College Football Playoff, but the men and women NCAA basketball tournaments. He talked about different things congress is working on. He talked about the house settlement. He talked about adding a ninth SEC game. He talked about working with the Big Ten and other conference leaders.

Heck, Sankey even managed to squeeze a verse from a School House Rock song into his speech.

But Sankey didn’t say much that was controversial or surprising (Ok, he did, but that's a different article). There were no announcements about any decisions being made. He didn’t even give a timeline for deciding things like when the SEC will add a ninth conference game or not.

The message I took from Sankey’s speech and answers to media members’ questions was that this is all really complex, difficult work that nobody wants to rush. So, we should be patient.

“The answers we seek are tied into the complexities that have been referenced over time,” Sankey said at one point. “I don't think the answers come from courtrooms completely. They don't come from commentators or commentary. They don't come from those outside sudden experts with their newest idea. Those of us in higher education embedded in college athletics know the intricacies of what's in front of us, and we all have to continue to adapt and have adapted as we seek to provide life impacting opportunities and lifelong memories for young people across our nation.”

It's a great point. There’s just one problem that can be summed up succinctly by a quote from the movie The Harder They Fall.

“I hear patience is a virtue, but I’ve never been able to wait and see if it’s true or not.”