Greg Sankey: ‘I have people in my room asking, why are we still in the NCAA?’

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gave a damning statement on the direction that college sports and the NCAA is headed Monday. While speaking on an NCAA government proposal, Sankey revealed that some people within the conference questioned why the league doesn’t break away from the NCAA.

The commissioner also said that the SEC is seeking “more autonomy” for all four of the power conferences. He explained that while he doesn’t have complete authority to make the decision to leave the NCAA, the willingness is there from teams in the SEC.

“SEC has asked for more autonomy for the four conferences,” Sankey said according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports. “I don’t have the authority to just depart (the NCAA). I’ve shared with the decision making working group that I have people in my room asking ‘Why are we still in the NCAA?’”

The NCAA is remaking its governance model in preparation for July 1, when a new revenue-sharing model between schools and student-athletes takes effect as a result of the House v. NCAA settlement. The proposed model would grant the power conferences as much as 65% weighted voting power in rules-making committees for decisions on the transfer portal, athlete eligibility and more.

Dellenger followed up to report that Sankey said the SEC would like to see that number come up to 68%. At the currently proposed 65%, all four power conferences would need to vote the same way to pass an issue.

According to Dellenger, SEC presidents voted in March to give Greg Sankey the authority to split from the NCAA if he sees fit. The SEC Spring Meetings got underway this week in Destin, where it has been one of the many topics of discussion.

Group of 5 conferences concerned about ‘checks and balances’ for SEC, Big Ten

Although the SEC would like to see more voting influence go to the power conferences, teams in the Group of 5 are understandably against it. In fact, Dellenger spoke with Big Sky Conference commissioner Tom Wistrcill, who expressed concern about giving so much control to the Big Ten and SEC in particular.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Wistrcill said. “There’s going to be no checks and balances for them. There’s going to be no limit to what the Power Two can do if you give them any more.”

There’s also growing concern about whether the Big Ten and SEC are aligned with the ACC and Big 12 on many of the issues facing college sports. In fact, Sankey even called out the other two conferences on Monday. All that could lead to an interesting offseason with huge changes ahead.