Florida-Georgia matchup always ‘special’
HOOVER, Ala. – After wrapping up another interview, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey darts into a private office off radio row at SEC Media Days. He slips his suit coat off his tall frame before sitting down for a few quiet moments.
It’s been 14- to 15-hour days for the commissioner starting on Monday with his opening remarks to the more than 1,000 members of the media in attendance for the league’s media days.
Armed with a laundry list of issues he wanted to speak out about, Sankey would spend the early hours of his days leading up to this week at a nearby coffee shop in Birmingham, Alabama, crafting those remarks, sometimes carrying the process over into the late evening.
In the end, he wound up speaking for 22 minutes on a variety of topics, including sports gambling, mental-health initiatives and education about officiating.
Sankey talked with the Orlando Sentinel about the league and the challenges it faces. Here is an abbreviated version of that conversation:
On a possible move for the Florida-Georgia game out of Jacksonville: “… It’s one of those special traditions from my view. It’s a game that’s consistently on CBS when it’s played and you know that. I was there last year and have been a half-dozen times in my 17 or 18 football seasons, and it felt that special nature with the travel and the fans, but the institutions are going to have to make some decisions. It is special and I think it’s special for the conference.
“But understand between the University of Georgia and the University of Florida and the city of Jacksonville and the people involved, there are some important … decisions that will guide the future. Yet when I look at it, it’s something special. Again the institutions will have to figure it out but they’ve created some value there.”
On Orlando as a possible future site for SEC Media Days: “It could be considered. The way I look at it right now, there is some familiarity with SEC football in Atlanta for a lot of reasons. There is history with Georgia Tech, and Georgia is up the road. We have a huge alumni base from all of our schools and there is the football championship game.
“And then the geographic center of the SEC’s current membership is if you drew a line from Nashville to Birmingham so you’re kind of in that center space so I want to respect that local coverage whether its radio, TV or newspapers because there is a foundation there for us. We’ll see what kind of flexibility that allows.
“… It’s interesting to see the interest in our media day’s location but it’s a compliment to our fans and their interest and what we do, and that’s a tribute on what happens on our campuses.”
On the future of injury reports, which are a way to avoid sports gambling influencing athletes and staff: “I’m not one that thinks it has to happen rapidly. I also believe it has to resolve issues for our teams, our athletics programs and the participants as opposed to simply serve gambling interests. I understand that the availability issue or the injury reporting can help people make decisions if they decide to gamble or set lines but I’m not certain it provides any different circumstance from a communication or seeking information standpoint that we have now from those standpoints.
“What I mean by that is if you issue an availability report on Thursday afternoon, people want the information on Wednesday and then Tuesday and then Monday and Sunday leading into the game. So have we really accomplished anything? Until there is a model we meet and helps support and protect integrity and protect the participants on our side, I’m reluctant to run down that road at present.”