SEC Commissioner Takes Apparent Dig at Big Ten, Big 12 Expansion

If the aftermath of the latest round of conference realignment, Greg Sankey offered a not-so-subtle jab at the new-look Big Ten and Big 12.

The SEC was a mere bystander last week as the Big Ten and Big 12 swooped in to pick apart the remnants of the Pac-12, pushing the once-powerful conference to the brink of existence. But that didn’t stop SEC commissioner Greg Sankey from commenting on the happenings Tuesday—and offering a not-so-subtle jab at the other two leagues regarding their westward sojourns for new members.

Speaking as a guest on the Paul Finebaum Show, Sankey was lauding the current state of the SEC when he was asked about the league acquiring Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 in order to capitalize on those schools’ wide-reaching brands. Sankey then lobbed a barb that seemed pinpointed toward the Big Ten and Big 12.

“We have this contiguous group. We don’t need to be in four time zones to generate interest on the West Coast,” Sankey said.

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By 2024, the Big Ten will span four time zones following their additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington—all located within the Pacific Time Zone, though none of the league’s schools will reside in the Mountain Time Zone. Of course, Sankey’s comments also could be applied to the Big 12’s ransacking of the Pac-12, with the conference set to welcome Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Arizona State next year.

The two big conference realignment dominoes fell in recent years when the SEC nabbed Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 and the Big Ten added USC and UCLA from the Pac-12. In the interim, the Big 12 secured a massive media rights deal with Fox and ESPN, while the Pac-12 has been unable to secure one of its own.

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff proposed a subscription-based deal with Apple to school administrators last week, which was ultimately not attractive enough to convince schools to stay put. Now, the league is left with just four schools beyond this year: Stanford, Cal, Washington State and Oregon State.