Greg Sankey outlines support for women's athletics in SEC, addresses possible threats

It’s no secret that fanfare for women’s college sports has grown exponentially over the last decade. In the age of NIL, this growth has translated to numerous opportunities for some of the top stars around the country.

The SEC has been at the front of this transition, and in 2026 appears to be fully committed to upward trajectory of women’s sports across the board. League commissioner Greg Sankey outlined the mass support he’s seen around his conference across the board during an appearance on the Paul Finebaum Show on Monday.

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“We have added women’s sports in this league this academic year, Vanderbilt’s volleyball team,” Sankey told Finebaum. “We are supporting female student athletes in our women’s sports at the highest possible level. We had 13,800 people at our women’s basketball tournament because of really good decision-making, great interest, great support. We had two teams in the women’s volleyball championship between Texas A&M and Kentucky.”

The Aggies would go on to beat the Wildcats to win the national title. The SEC also had Texas win the 2025 softball national championship in the Women’s College World Series. Currently sitting at 22-1 overall, the Longhorns could very well repeat in Oklahoma City. Both South Carolina and Texas, who duked it out for the SEC Tournament title on Sunday, both could very well be cutting down the nets when March Madness is all said and done.

With women’s college athletics at an all-time high in popularity, Sankey would no doubt like the SEC to be at the forefront of that effort. Still, he acknowledged the current issues facing women’s sports in the revenue sharing era of NIL.

“There’s great support,” Sankey said. “If we don’t manage the economic transition that’s happening right now, outside of today, there are threats to the stability and the number of sports that are sponsored. I think that has to be acknowledged. But the sky is not falling.”

Revenue-sharing caters to the most profitable sports first, the ones that generate cash from television, ticket sales, sponsorships, etc. This leaves non-revenue sports — in most cases includes many, if not all women’s programs — relying on athletic departments funds to stay afloat.

Still, Sankey doesn’t appear to believe these threats are imminent. For now, he’ll continue to push women’s college sports in the SEC at the highest level.