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SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey takes jab at politics, political leaders at 2022 Media Day

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby: Jonathan Wagner07/18/22j_wags74

2022 SEC Media Days are underway, and the conference’s commissioner, Greg Sankey, has already taken the stage. He discussed a number of prominent topics across college football and college athletics as a whole, including the everlasting topic of expansion and realignment.

When speaking with the media, Sankey was asked if the SEC’s expansion with Oklahoma and Texas “trumps” the Big Ten’s recent additions of USC and UCLA. Sankey immediately responded with an emphatic yes, but he then poked some fun and took a big jab at politics and political leaders in the United States.

“Yes,” Sankey responded. “But I’m not sure if I want to use the word ‘trump’ all the time these days. Got to be careful about that”

Sankey’s remark is in reference to Donald J. Trump, the previous President of the United States. Trump was in the White House from 2017-2021, before Joe Biden was elected as the 46th President of the United States in 2021.

Sankey on how Congress, leaders have impacted SEC, other conferences

One of the most prominent topics of discussion over the past year has been the introduction of NIL in the NCAA landscape. Sankey has seen the impacts of NIL firsthand in the SEC, as has every conference across the nation. Earlier at Media Days, Sankey described how Congress and political leaders have impacted the NIL discussion, and how things are looking moving forward regarding changes.

“Go back to March and I made a list of matters present,” Sankey said earlier. “The war on Ukraine, the economy, the differences that exist in Congress, and we have a mid-term election coming up. And things that have happened over recent weeks and months have just added to that.

“The reality was when I had that conversation in March, I wasn’t really looking at Congress to be the solution just because of the timing. We’ve had conversations with leaders from both sides of the aisles and we will continue to do so because regardless of what’s happened recently, we need a bipartisan solution for this national concept moving forward.”