Thought everyone would find the following article interesting per Gamecock Central following Sankey's meeting with their Board of Regents.......
-- Expanding the conference football slate to nine games and elimination of permanent cross-division opponents have become popular topics of discussion and debate over the past few years in SEC circles.
Neither, though, is likely to happen in the foreseeable future.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees, and later a small group of reporters, that the status quo will likely remain in place barring a sudden change in sentiment throughout the league.
Right now, each SEC school is required to annually play eight conference games plus one opponent from a Power 5 school, leaving three non-conference games at the discretion of each institution.
“The whole football scheduling conversation was had in a very full and complete way about two-and-a-half years ago,” Sankey told the Board of Trustees. “It was post-expansion. There is a clear majority that feel eight is the right number. But this is the first year we’ve added the expectation that a ninth game be played against one of the other (Power) 5 conferences in order to increase our strength of schedule. We have not engaged in a nine-game (conference schedule) recently.”
Permanent cross-division opponents were implemented when South Carolina and Arkansas joined the conference in 1992 as a way to preserve two long-standing southern rivalries: Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia.
Over the past few years, the issue of fairness to the other 10 teams in the SEC has cropped up from time to time. In short, should they be required to stomach permanent cross-division opponents simply to placate the four aforementioned schools.
“We do have some (permanent cross-division opponents) that are a little bit different than Auburn-Georgia, who have played for years and years and years,” Sankey said. “There are also some complexities (to scheduling) and other rivalries our membership feels is important. When we looked at this issue 2-1/2 years ago, there were a variety of ideas looked at. We ended up staying with permanent cross-divisional opponents.”
GAMECOCKS PROVIDE MODEL OF COOPERATION: South Carolina’s willingness to move last year’s scheduled home game vs. LSU to Baton Rouge in the wake of the flooding that struck parts of Columbia a year ago serves as a model of cooperation for other SEC schools, Sankey said. Unfortunately, the same level of cooperation was absent in this week’s tense negotiations between LSU and Florida as they sought to reschedule the Oct. 8 game in Gainesville postponed by Hurricane Matthew.
“That was absolutely the model of cooperation,” Sankey said about USC’s decision in 2015. “I’m not saying games have to flip all the time, but you must have communications between the two universities.”
Eventually, the LSU-Florida game was rescheduled for Nov. 19 in Baton Rouge. LSU agreed to move the 2017 game between the two schools to Gainesville. Sankey said the conference will explore new regulations giving the commissioner more authority when conference games are postponed.
“I was concerned Monday when lines were drawn in the sand,” Sankey said. “We are a conference that has done really well in handling things inside. We’ve talked about being a family. I view that as important. It is difficult to come to conclusions when we’re publicly stating line sin the sane. We can’t do that. I give great credit to (Florida AD) Jeremy Foley for stepping forward when we reached an impasse and showing a willingness to make an adjustment to this year’s schedule. It moved us forward.”
Both schools were under pressure to get the game rescheduled because SEC commissioner regulations require a conference football team must play all eight conference games in a season in order to be eligible to compete for a divisional title and play in the SEC Championship Game. Thus, had the game not been rescheduled, Florida and LSU would have been ineligible to compete for the 2016 SEC title.
The official SEC press release announcing the new date for the LSU-Florida game stating conference policy will be “revised to better define the process for completing postponed or interrupted contests and to grant authority to the Commissioner to determine the date and location of future games that may need to be rescheduled if the two involved institutions cannot mutually identify a date.”
“We clearly need to develop a set of protocols for how games that are interrupted or postponed are than played,” Sankey told reporters. “Ultimately, there has to be specific authority granted to the Commissioner. This is all fresh, so we have work to do. From the standpoint of vision, that would be the direction.”
NOTES:
-- Sankey said the SEC’s financial information, including 2015-16 payouts to each school, will be released in January.
-- The SEC Network was one of the most successful cable channel launches in TV history. However, Sankey acknowledged the conference is “mindful” of the fact the cable TV industry and how consumers watch college sports is changing rapidly. The Disney corporation, owners of ESPN, which partners with the SEC on the network, “has shown over time the ability to be creative and adapt and have adopted new technologies.” Sankey said he believes the SEC Network’s success will “magnify itself.” Why has the SEC Network been so successful so early? “I put our fans right at the top of the list and their passion,” Sankey said. “You add the brand of the conference with our partnership with ESPN, which has launched networks and built networks and sustained networks. We have the perfect combination of knowledge and passion at the right time.”
-- Realignment of the two divisions and expansion are two additional topics that have received a substantial amount of media attention over the past few months, but Sankey said neither is on the front burner with school presidents or ADs. The general consensus is the current divisions are “working well.” He said expansion discussions have been “thoughtful and strategic” but offered no specifics.
-- Sankey noted USC president Harris Pastides is now one of the longest tenured presidents in the SEC as eight of the 14 conference schools have installed new leaders within the last couple of years.
-- Duane Notice (MBK) and A’ja Wilson (WBK) represent the Gamecocks on the SEC Basketball Leaders Council.
-- South Carolina is currently ranked as high as No. 2 in the women’s soccer national polls. Sankey noted a SEC school has not won the national championship in women’s soccer since 1998.
-- Issues surrounding the amount of time athletes are required to devote to their sports (Example: the 20-hour rule in football) are moving to the forefront, Sankey said. Rules forbidding early morning practices after returning from a road trip, off time immediately upon the conclusion of a season, and more free time when out-of-season are being discussed.
-- Sankey said the NCAA is looking at adopting a rule banning schools from holding practice over spring break. Jim Harbaugh took Michigan over spring break last March to the IMG Academy in Florida, causing a firestorm nationally. ---
-- Expanding the conference football slate to nine games and elimination of permanent cross-division opponents have become popular topics of discussion and debate over the past few years in SEC circles.
Neither, though, is likely to happen in the foreseeable future.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey told the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees, and later a small group of reporters, that the status quo will likely remain in place barring a sudden change in sentiment throughout the league.
Right now, each SEC school is required to annually play eight conference games plus one opponent from a Power 5 school, leaving three non-conference games at the discretion of each institution.
“The whole football scheduling conversation was had in a very full and complete way about two-and-a-half years ago,” Sankey told the Board of Trustees. “It was post-expansion. There is a clear majority that feel eight is the right number. But this is the first year we’ve added the expectation that a ninth game be played against one of the other (Power) 5 conferences in order to increase our strength of schedule. We have not engaged in a nine-game (conference schedule) recently.”
Permanent cross-division opponents were implemented when South Carolina and Arkansas joined the conference in 1992 as a way to preserve two long-standing southern rivalries: Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia.
Over the past few years, the issue of fairness to the other 10 teams in the SEC has cropped up from time to time. In short, should they be required to stomach permanent cross-division opponents simply to placate the four aforementioned schools.
“We do have some (permanent cross-division opponents) that are a little bit different than Auburn-Georgia, who have played for years and years and years,” Sankey said. “There are also some complexities (to scheduling) and other rivalries our membership feels is important. When we looked at this issue 2-1/2 years ago, there were a variety of ideas looked at. We ended up staying with permanent cross-divisional opponents.”
GAMECOCKS PROVIDE MODEL OF COOPERATION: South Carolina’s willingness to move last year’s scheduled home game vs. LSU to Baton Rouge in the wake of the flooding that struck parts of Columbia a year ago serves as a model of cooperation for other SEC schools, Sankey said. Unfortunately, the same level of cooperation was absent in this week’s tense negotiations between LSU and Florida as they sought to reschedule the Oct. 8 game in Gainesville postponed by Hurricane Matthew.
“That was absolutely the model of cooperation,” Sankey said about USC’s decision in 2015. “I’m not saying games have to flip all the time, but you must have communications between the two universities.”
Eventually, the LSU-Florida game was rescheduled for Nov. 19 in Baton Rouge. LSU agreed to move the 2017 game between the two schools to Gainesville. Sankey said the conference will explore new regulations giving the commissioner more authority when conference games are postponed.
“I was concerned Monday when lines were drawn in the sand,” Sankey said. “We are a conference that has done really well in handling things inside. We’ve talked about being a family. I view that as important. It is difficult to come to conclusions when we’re publicly stating line sin the sane. We can’t do that. I give great credit to (Florida AD) Jeremy Foley for stepping forward when we reached an impasse and showing a willingness to make an adjustment to this year’s schedule. It moved us forward.”
Both schools were under pressure to get the game rescheduled because SEC commissioner regulations require a conference football team must play all eight conference games in a season in order to be eligible to compete for a divisional title and play in the SEC Championship Game. Thus, had the game not been rescheduled, Florida and LSU would have been ineligible to compete for the 2016 SEC title.
The official SEC press release announcing the new date for the LSU-Florida game stating conference policy will be “revised to better define the process for completing postponed or interrupted contests and to grant authority to the Commissioner to determine the date and location of future games that may need to be rescheduled if the two involved institutions cannot mutually identify a date.”
“We clearly need to develop a set of protocols for how games that are interrupted or postponed are than played,” Sankey told reporters. “Ultimately, there has to be specific authority granted to the Commissioner. This is all fresh, so we have work to do. From the standpoint of vision, that would be the direction.”
NOTES:
-- Sankey said the SEC’s financial information, including 2015-16 payouts to each school, will be released in January.
-- The SEC Network was one of the most successful cable channel launches in TV history. However, Sankey acknowledged the conference is “mindful” of the fact the cable TV industry and how consumers watch college sports is changing rapidly. The Disney corporation, owners of ESPN, which partners with the SEC on the network, “has shown over time the ability to be creative and adapt and have adopted new technologies.” Sankey said he believes the SEC Network’s success will “magnify itself.” Why has the SEC Network been so successful so early? “I put our fans right at the top of the list and their passion,” Sankey said. “You add the brand of the conference with our partnership with ESPN, which has launched networks and built networks and sustained networks. We have the perfect combination of knowledge and passion at the right time.”
-- Realignment of the two divisions and expansion are two additional topics that have received a substantial amount of media attention over the past few months, but Sankey said neither is on the front burner with school presidents or ADs. The general consensus is the current divisions are “working well.” He said expansion discussions have been “thoughtful and strategic” but offered no specifics.
-- Sankey noted USC president Harris Pastides is now one of the longest tenured presidents in the SEC as eight of the 14 conference schools have installed new leaders within the last couple of years.
-- Duane Notice (MBK) and A’ja Wilson (WBK) represent the Gamecocks on the SEC Basketball Leaders Council.
-- South Carolina is currently ranked as high as No. 2 in the women’s soccer national polls. Sankey noted a SEC school has not won the national championship in women’s soccer since 1998.
-- Issues surrounding the amount of time athletes are required to devote to their sports (Example: the 20-hour rule in football) are moving to the forefront, Sankey said. Rules forbidding early morning practices after returning from a road trip, off time immediately upon the conclusion of a season, and more free time when out-of-season are being discussed.
-- Sankey said the NCAA is looking at adopting a rule banning schools from holding practice over spring break. Jim Harbaugh took Michigan over spring break last March to the IMG Academy in Florida, causing a firestorm nationally. ---
