What commissioner Greg Sankey said during his SEC Media Days presser

SEC Media Days began Monday with a press conference from Greg Sankey, the league’s commissioner. Because he’s one of the most powerful people in sports, what he says often is noteworthy. Here’s a look at key Sankey quotes from Monday:

Greg Sankey was pleased with Year 1 of the 16-school league

SANKEY: “There is joy embedded in what we do, and we take pride in what was accomplished last year. Our first as a 16-member, what I think is a “superconference,” for all those of you who like to speculate about superconferences, welcome to one. We have common sense geography, restored rivalries, record-breaking viewership. In fact, I asked for some data this weekend. If you take the consumed viewership hourson linear TV, almost 40 percent of that viewership was focused on games involving Southeastern Conference universities and teams. Big Ten was next, right around 30 percent. That means with those two conferences, just over two-thirds of the total viewership of college football is embedded between the SEC and the Big Ten.”

CONTEXT: From that quote, the most interesting part is his comment about the SEC having “common sense geography,” which certainly seems like a shot at the country’s other big conferences. The ACC and Big Ten stretch from coast to coast while the Big 12 nearly does the same.

The SEC thinks the CFP should expand

SANKEY: “I felt the first year of the 12-year College Football Playoff was a success. That doesn’t mean everything was perfect, and there are certainly opportunities to improve. But what happened through the 12-team College Football Playoff is we brought teams into the conversation at a time when they would have been talking about their bowl game. We brought teams into the National Championship conversation so the young people on those teams had that National Championship competition access point.

I think the recent modifications by the College Football Playoff to adjust the seeding to be consistent with the selection committee’s rankings is entirely appropriate given the adjustments to conference membership that have happened nationally since the 12-team concept was first introduced in June of 2021. Those of you with us in Destin will remember a lot of speculation going into that meeting, but what came out is we think growth beyond 12 could be positive and should be pursued. There’s also a belief that the process for selecting teams to participate in the College Football Playoff can be updated and improved itself.”

CONTEXT: In College Football Playoff conversations for 2026 (and beyond), SEC coaches, per ESPN.com, “most recently said they would now prefer a 16-team format that includes the five highest-ranked conference champions and 11 at-large bids.” Meanwhile, the Big Ten “has favored a model that rewards conferences with guaranteed spots and play-in games to determine them.” The Big Ten has proposed a model with four automatic qualifiers for both the Big Ten and SEC.

Sankey later noted, “The Big Ten has a different view. That’s fine. We have a 12-team playoff, five
conference champions. That could stay if we can’t agree.”

Greg Sankey talked about the SEC’s conference schedule

SANKEY: “It is absolutely, fully, 100 percent correct that in the SEC we play eight conference games while some others play nine conference games. Never been a secret. Second, it’s also correct that last season all 16 members of the Southeastern Conference played at least nine games against what you would label “power opponents.” We had several that played 10 of their 12 games against power opponents. Some conferences have that, some don’t.

The same will be true this year. We have Washington State, and we’re obviously transitioning in the Pac-12 that’s included in that group, and we again have several of our football teams that have 10 of those power games embedded in their schedule. I don’t believe there’s anyone looking to swap their conference schedule and its opponents with the opponents played by SEC Conference teams in our conference schedule, be it eight or nine.

In the SEC we’re not lacking for quality competition among our 16 football teams, but we’re going to continue to evaluate whether increasing the number of conference football games is appropriate for us. As I’ve said repeatedly, understanding how the CFP will evaluate strength of schedule and even strength.”

When might the 2026 schedules be released?

Later, Sankey aded this: “It won’t linger terribly much longer. We have to make decisions about the ’26 season and adjust. If we’re going to go to nine games, then there have to be games moved or rescheduled. If we stay at eight, probably a little easier on that part of the logistics. Once we make a decision in the conference office, we’re pretty much ready to go. If you go back to when we made our last decision, it was in Destin, and two weeks later we had opponents out. Shortly thereafter, we were prepared with dates and sites sort of thing.”

CONTEXT: Before the 2026 schedules can be released, the SEC must decide whether to stick with eight conference games or go to nine. Per Al.com, “Typically, the league has announced the upcoming year’s schedule in December.” As the Al.com also noted, “Sankey added that the SEC and its membership has taken a ‘wait and see’ approach on scheduling, given the uncertain future of the College Football Playoff format. The CFP is committed to staying at 12 teams only through the 2025 season, making the SEC’s scheduling timetable flexible.”

More SEC games could result in more revenue — but also more losses. League coaches are mixed on the idea.

The commissioner shared his thoughts on the status of college sports in this new era

SANKEY: Let me be clear. From my perspective, college athletics is not broken. College athletics is not broken. It is under stress. It is strained. The answers we seek are tied into the complexities that have been referenced over time.

I went back and read my remarks from this podium or others over the last few years, and pretty consistently I’ve identified the challenges ahead with some of the decisions that we have to make. 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.

CONTEXT: In this ever-changing era of college sports, Sankey and the SEC simply are trying to get their arms around things just like everyone else.