Everything SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey Said at Missouri Board Meeting

The commissioner of the SEC held a press conference in Kansas City following the approval of Missouri's $250 million Memorial Stadium project.

Mar 17, 2024; Nashville, TN, USA; SEC commissioner Greg Sankey looks on before the SEC Tournament championship game between the Florida Gators and the Auburn Tigers at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey was on hand for the University of Missouri Board of Curators meeting Thursday in Kansas City, Mo. Mizzou athletics' $250 million renovation plan for Memorial Stadium was unanimously approved at the meeting.

READ: Mizzou Athletics Looks to Continue Momentum with Final Approval of Stadium Project

Afterwards, Sankey held a press conference to comment on the project for Missouri, NCAA antitrust settlements and more regarding the college athletics landscape. Here's a transcript of the most important things from Sankey's time with the media.

Opening statement:

"I'm not an architect. My name's not Art Vandelay. We traveled to Wrigley Field last year, (Missouri athletic director) Laird (Veatch) was not a part of that. We brought athletic directors and other staff intentionally. Knowing the rivalries in the National League, I want to be careful, but the honoring of tradition and the activation of opportunities to bring people in in a new way. I actually think you see that here with the campus facing front of this project, the six columns, the rock M and the honoring of that tradition while still modernizing and providing opportunities that people want to be a part of in a special moment."

"We're at an interesting time in college sports — plenty of questions, plenty of opportunity, when you think about it from a different perspective. During these times of change, there's no place I'd rather be personally, I think the same for our 16 universities, than in the Southeastern Conference."

On the contract dispute between DirecTV and Disney:

"Each time there's a carious negotiation, sure, it's a level of attention. In fact, I had not even opened the email from my friends of DirecTV and it was on social media that they had written me a letter. We've stayed in constant communication with our colleagues, ESPN and Disney. I know they're working diligently to provide the opportunity to restore the service. We'll see what happens. It's a changing time in the business. ...These things happen. We've avoided significant disruption. We did have one last year for about a week, and hopefully they can find a way to a conclusion."

On the NCAA's antitrust settlement:

"There are questions that have to be answered. In May, there was an announcement about agreement terms. Then there's a long form, then there's hearings. I was open back at our football media days in mid-July, that this is a process. We're not at an end just because the press release was issued. You saw questions raised, questions maybe not answered as clearly as they needed to be. So we'll keep working. This was a hard work project for months to arrive even the opportunity for settlement conversations to take place in the spring. It was a hard work project to come to an agreement on a long form, and we'll see if it is able to proceed, that those questions will need to be answered in the next few weeks. This is subject to a court and legal process, not to my decision making, but we've done the hard work. We'll continue to work to see if we can be clarified and see what what decisions might be made at the court level.

His thoughts on Missouri's NIL laws possibly providing a competitive advantadge:

"You can imagine there's a lot of commentary that I received about name, image and likeness activity for now, three plus years into its onset, starting in 2021. People have perspectives and opinions. I'll go back to some of the fundamentals — I have never thought, and I think we as a conference have never thought, that the right way to do this is on a state-by-state basis. I think we've seen why. A young person being recruited by 10 different universities has to figure out 10 different state laws and what they're told and what people tell them. We've put some level of authority, if you will, outside of our university leadership framework, collectives, others on the outside. There's no consumer protection, meaning the young person who is the consumer of this activity. There's no transparency. I think those are concerns in all 50 states and in every athletic program I our conference, and need to be addressed.

I know there are ongoing conversations in Congress. I know it is a difficult political time in our country, though, to accomplish an objective, and so I don't simply rely on that expectation, but we do need national standards.

Our student athletes deserve to know when they line up across the line of scrimmage that the people on the other side and the other uniforms are held to the same set of standards. Our young people deserve better than this patchwork. Our young people deserve better than whispers and promises from people that they don't know. Our young people deserve better than agents who can print out on a printer business card or a contract with no oversight. They deserve better than that. That's not subject to a conference's control, but we have a responsibility to lead in changing the current environment and maybe making it helpful to the young person."

The evolution of Mizzou athletics since joining the SEC:

"When we were in St Louis in 2018 for a basketball tournament, it was a sign that this is a different footprint. And I said at that time, people never imagined that we'd be playing an SEC basketball tournament in St Louis, Missouri.

I said at media days, and I'll repeat, we're 16 universities. We're not universities that started, universities that moved in the 90s, or the 2010s or the 2020s, we're 16 strong universities in the strongest athletic conference in the nation, and I think Missouri fits perfectly in that.

From my perspective, the continuing growth of the program, and if you go through the investment in facilities the south end zone now the north end zone's vision, the way they support the student athletes the way they've been intentional about personal growth over the last decade plus, I think is a tribute to the university. I think of one of the experiences I had yesterday as we were talking about the SEC Network at a what we call a content board meeting, is the intentional way that the athletic department has integrated learning experience in the production facilities around SEC Network and ESPN program. All of that's a seamless representation in Missouri and the southeastern conference."

On the impact the Memorial Stadium renovations will have for Missouri and the SEC:

"I think big picture from our university, it's a time of changing student demographics, growth and change and cranes on campus is a sign of lif, when you look at universities. There's enrollment pieces, faculty pieces, status pieces, there are programmatic pieces, and some of that growth is seen externally, and this is apart of that growth.

I've never been one who says that the athletics department is the front porch to the university, because that simply isolates something. An athletics program is part of a university. It's very visible. It draws people in. It draws people in who may not have a natural affiliation, but who want to be part of something bigger than themselves. It draws people from different regions, who explore a university because perhaps they saw it represented on a television set during an athletic contest. I think those are incredibly healthy opportunities, and the continued growth is a part of what happens on campuses."

On why it is important Mizzou athletics builds off momentum by investing now:

"The representation of the structure that opens to campus and invites people in. The reference to using it beyond seven or eight football games a year, but integrating the facility into the community, the community into the facility, both at the university level, at a city level, and, I would argue, at a state level. There are going to be ebbs and flows competitively. What you want to do, in my view, is lay a foundation upon which you continually build to achieve success, and I would evaluate, that that's exactly what needs to be done, and exactly what you're seeing here today. It's not a moment, it's a continuing point of progress and that's to be commended."

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