The SEC Media Days began on Monday in Dallas, Texas, with some new faces on hand. Both Texas and Oklahoma are new additions to the conference in 2024 amid a ton of shuffling across the country.
The SEC now has 16 teams in the conference while the Big Ten has 18 with the additions of USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon. The biggest question is whether or not big conferences such as the SEC will continue to expand going forward. And, Sankey addressed that topic on Monday, per Adam Luckett of On3.
“We’re focused on our 16, period. You’ve seen how we’ve made decisions over the last decade-plus for contiguous states to join,” said Sankey. “I think that’s incredibly wise and provides remarkable strength.”
Sankey also took to social media early Monday morning with a series of posts on X, one of them being about the SEC's growth from 14 teams to 16.
“From 14 Deep to 16 Strong. 16 is our today, and our tomorrow. Those 16 universities have worldwide influence through the collective enrollment of nearly 500,000 students. A global network of nearly 5 million living alums and former students.”
For now, it seems that the SEC will be sticking with 16 teams, although Greg Sankey could decide to add down the road. Let's not forget how quickly things changed on that front with the Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC.
Greg Sankey admits he isn't a ‘recruiter' despite Texas, Oklahoma moves
The landscape of college sports has changed quickly over the past few years with NIL, more transfer portal moves, and plenty of realignment. In regards to the SEC, there have been plenty of rumblings of which teams might be asked to join next after adding Oklahoma and Texas, and Sankey spoke about that on Monday.
“I’m not a recruiter. My job is to make sure we meet the standard of excellence that we have for ourselves on a daily basis. That attracts interest. It’s done that with the two universities that we have added this year,” Sankey said at SEC Media Days. “They’re not the only phone calls I’ve ever had, but I’m not involved in recruitment.”
The ACC has all sorts of questions, so there have been rumblings about programs such as Clemson, Florida State, and others potentially going over to the SEC. But, for now, things are at a standstill.
The ACC added Cal, Stanford, and SMU, so the travel scenarios are going to be a headache for some of those schools. After Florida State got snubbed from the College Football Playoff, more teams could decide to ditch the ACC and go to other conferences in hopes of earning more exposure and respect nationally.
All in all, the college football season is right around the corner, and it will be a different feeling seeing all of these schools in new conferences. The days of realignment seem far from over, especially with the financial impact across the sport, and it is only a matter of time before giant superconferences form. The SEC could very well be one of them.
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