NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Two of the most powerful figures in college athletics shared a room here Thursday after an unprecedented joint meeting of school athletic directors.
Sitting at a nondescript table in front of about a dozen members of the media, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti answered nearly an hour of questions about the top leaders’ uproar. Ta.
The two couldn’t be more alike. Sankey was wearing a blue checked sport coat, white collared shirt, and dress shoes. Petiti is wearing white Nike Kicks, a sweater pullover and black ankle socks.
Competing fashion styles aside, their similarities brought them to this place: the Grand Hyatt in country music’s vibrant capital. There, the administrators of the most powerful and richest leagues in the country gathered for a somewhat historic meeting.
No decisions were taken, but all the topics expected to be discussed during the seven-hour summit on Thursday were discussed. Coordinating football and basketball regular season schedules between the two leagues. Post-House Settlement Governance and Enforcement Agencies.
The two spoke for nearly an hour with reporters in a conference room on the second floor, sharing details of the meeting as athletic directors and others hurriedly emerged from the entrance to the main lobby below.
Sankey and Petiti assured the nation that, no, their conference is not planning to be cut off from other college competitions. They harshly criticized several outside proposals to restructure college athletics. And they will wait until the completion of this year’s first expansion CFP before making any actual decisions regarding the playoff format, partnership schedule and postseason bowl.
But what is left unsaid here is probably more unpleasant than what is said.
Simply put, the SEC and Big Ten plan to reshape college athletics. They are now car drivers, machine operators, and ship captains.
For the most part, they believe they (and not the other eight FBS leagues) control the future playoff format. They will oversee the implementation of a new enforcement model based on an impending revenue-sharing concept (not the NCAA). And they could — and most believe they will — overhaul how their schools participate in the postseason (bowls?).
Thursday’s meeting, while not reaching any actual decisions, is clearly a step toward ultimately reaching those decisions. This is a leap of change, and a leap of change during the most volatile period in the history of our industry.
Fasten the buckle. The road is bumpy.
“He who holds the gold medal makes the rules,” said one Big 12 competition director.
These potentially unpleasant changes are only subject to discussion at this time. Decisions can be weeks, months, or even years away.
But it is clear what this path will lead to. More spots to the playoffs are guaranteed (possibly with multiple automatic qualifiers per league), which allows them to play a tougher regular season schedule (possibly reciprocal) and The path will be opened. There will probably be a conference play-in tournament to the CFP at the end of the regular season. All of this generates more revenue for schools at a time when administrators are scavenging for cash in the age of athlete revenue sharing.
Many of these revenue-generating concepts are incorporated into recently announced (College Sports Tomorrow) and revealed (Project Rudy) proposals to reshape the college sports landscape.
Sankey, upset, was sharply critical of the timing. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they stepped up their public relations program to coincide with our meeting.”
Most, if not all, of the proposed concepts are viable across both leagues or power conferences, Petiti said. Basically, it’s about scheduling better games and reorganizing how those games are played. ”
There is much more to this path of change. Division I governance will be fragmented, with power conferences gaining ever more exclusive authority over their own rules and policy decisions. They will opt for third-party enforcement agencies and clearinghouses with the goal of eliminating the unwieldy system of booster pays, a central goal of the settlement.
How about a bowl game? It remains uncertain. But as one coach recently told Yahoo Sports, “the days of schools losing money in bowl games are over.”
Buckle up and we’ll continue down this bumpy road.
Petiti acknowledged that much of the “trigger” for this change has to do with the House settlement that would have distributed school revenue directly to athletes. This settlement will likely be the last dividing line between the haves and have-nots, and the last straw in college athletics. The camel’s back is broken.
“So many things need to change,” Petiti said.
It’s obvious he didn’t say that. College athletics must evolve and operate as a more professional and business-like entity. That’s because it is. If you’re paying players directly, you’re a business.
As one senior executive says, “If you’re a company, you make the business decisions.”
College sports have changed, continue to change, and will continue to change. Although the decision was left for later, Thursday’s meeting served as another reminder that the SEC and Big Ten are in control of future changes.
They’re driving down this bumpy road called college sports. Will they end up going astray together? Or will he lead everyone? Will it end in a compromise? Or is it one of division?
“This is the beginning of a conversation,” Sankey said.
