‘Finish line’ for picking schedule formats likely by May
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey said the league is still dealing with the complexities of football scheduling as Texas and Oklahoma prepare to join the conference in 2024.
Sankey, who noted that Georgia still has not played in College Station since the Aggies and Mizzou joined the league in 2012, said the conference likely will lock down whether it will begin playing a schedule with nine SEC games, including three annual opponents, as opposed to eight SEC games with one annual opponent by the spring meetings in late May.
Athletic directors will make their collective recommendations, and a final decision is made by university presidents via a vote, Sankey explained.
“The finish line is our meeting in Destin,” Sankey said of the spring meetings along the beach in Florida. “(But) I’ll warn you that before you make your travel plans, we could decide sooner.”
The heavy favorite, although Sankey did not say as much, appears to be the nine-game format, because that would allow a program like A&M to face old rival Texas and newer rival LSU every year (along with Mississippi State as the third annual rival, at least for now).
Should the SEC go with the eight-game setup, the Aggies would not play the Longhorns annually (UT and OU would be “permanent” rivals along with A&M and LSU meeting every year), which doesn’t seem to make as much sense from a fan and financial perspective.
“A schedule has to be considered in its entirety, not simply (its) annual opponents,” Sankey said. “… We need to remember there are some really, really special rivalries. And one of the unique aspects of our expansion is we restore
rivalries that existed before … (for instance) Missouri and Oklahoma is 25 percent of the old Big Eight for those of you who are sports historians.
“… And obviously Texas A&M and Texas. But also Arkansas and Texas, given the lore there. … We’re going to have to make some decisions, and eventually there will be a vote. What’s exciting for our fans is we can see teams more frequently, and narrow the disparities that exist within our two-division schedule.”
Like Georgia not yet playing at A&M, although the Aggies lost at Georgia 19-13 in 2019.
“Without a doubt,” Sankey added of whatever model is chosen in the next couple of months, “we’ll have very exciting football.”
The College Football Playoff also is expanding from four to 12 teams for the 2024 season, which should impact the league’s decision on a scheduling format, given more SEC teams will have the opportunity to make the playoff. Five different SEC programs — Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida and Auburn — have won 13 of the last 17 national titles.
Sankey also addressed A&M’s plan to use its independent fundraising arm for athletics, the 12th Man Foundation, to help streamline donor contributions to student-athletes. The NCAA ruled that starting in the summer of 2021 college athletes can benefit financially from their names, images and likenesses, or NIL.
A&M said it gave the NCAA and the SEC heads ups that it would begin using the 12th Man Foundation, which has a separate governing board outside of the university, for NIL purposes, although it didn’t necessarily have to.
“There wasn’t much notice to us (from A&M), relatively speaking,” Sankey said. “That’s not an evaluation process in which we’re involved (in anyway) because our consistent position has been you have to make certain you’re complying with state laws and with the NCAA’s structure, whatever it may be, around name, image and likeness.
“We’ll certainly facilitate those communications and did so in that circumstance (with A&M). … We have constantly urged care, and there are a lot of issues beyond merely recruiting conversations that have to be considered with name, image and likeness, two (being) state laws and NCAA guidelines. We’ll continue to make that the focus of our advice and guidance.”
Travis Dabney, the 12th Man Foundation’s president and CEO, has said on the matter, “There was a lot of attention paid to making sure we were compliant. That all the governing bodies and entities were aware of what our intentions were. … The last thing we would want to do is bring any dishonor to Texas A&M University.”
A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said A&M athletes have either made or agreed to make nearly $10 million in deals in the past 20 months since the NCAA allowed athletes to benefit from NIL. How does that compare to other universities, even before the 12th Man Foundation agreement?
“Based on the contracts that have been turned into our compliance office and the data we’ve seen from those, probably top five to 10 in the country,” Bjork has said. “… You don’t really know exactly based on how things are set up (at other schools) exactly what is accurate.”