SEC’s Sankey confident D-I can run together

• Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior WriterMay 30, 2024, 05:49 PM ET

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  • College football reporter
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
  • Graduate of Indiana University

DESTIN, Fla.– As the SEC spring meetings concluded on Thursday, commissioner Greg Sankey acknowledged that while college sports is in “uncharted waters,” he believes the NCAA Department I schools can continue to run together, and his conference is prepared “to take a management role” as they all browse the historic change.Sankey said the

NCAA basketball tournament in March is what binds Division I together, however if it’s going to stay together,” there are pressures that have to be recognized.””We have actually allowed Department I to grow,”

he stated.”We have conferences resolving their subscription problem by welcoming non-Division I members in, but we have not customized the bracket size. I believe common sense says you need to go into that. There are competitive problems, there are calendar concerns, there are economic issues. But I do believe that March can be kept together. That does not mean it remains exactly the very same.”We also have to recognize the differences that do exist within the group that pursue that brass ring of the competition access chance.” Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The SEC has formed numerous working groups to assist tackle the weighty problems looming after your home v. NCAA settlement, including one to look at conference rules that might require to be removed or executed. Another group will take a deeper dive into the league’s federal legal efforts, and another will look into oversight and governance of the settlement itself.There’s likewise a group of athletic directors looking into roster structures, which Sankey said needs to move expeditiously. Conference leaders agreed, however, that one major next step will be to see a longer-form filing of the settlement, part of which will expose how the plaintiffs prepare to disperse the historical damages, which go back to 2016. Sources stated they expect to discover that before July.” That’s the next move,”stated Texas president Jay Hartzell.”We’ll get to see what their strategies are. Not that we’ll form it, but the public will start to learn what’s going

to happen. It will be intriguing to see what the reactions are based upon how they prepare to invest the cash. We’ll all be seeing that.”How that income is distributed to previous athletes will impact the conversation about Title IX moving forward, as sources informed ESPN this week the back pay might be lopsided towards males

. That’s up to the plaintiffs, however, as existing athletic leaders are entrusted with determining how to assign it moving forward. While the back pay will provide some clarity, they still need to figure out how the money ties into the federal law.Oklahoma president Joe Harroz Jr. stated concerns about the settlement are”the entire universe right now. “”When you look at it, with the settlement it alters a lot,”he said.”It really is this idea of ensuring you remain in line with the

settlement which we continue to be the conference that leads the country. “Sankey has repeated every day this week that the crucial responses to how the earnings circulation will be executed to players on each school– and how Title IX factors into it– will belong to a procedure that plays out over the next numerous months. The in-person conferences

the league has had, however, over the past month, assisted the conference conversations this week.”I think we walk out of here with an understanding that we’re heading to a brand-new chapter, we’re going to need to manage shift, however fully ready and committed throughout the board at the athletic director, president and chancellor level to take a leadership role because modification,”he said.Sankey stated the SEC will continue

to deal with the Big 10 in that function, and stated the advisory committee in between the two was “an acceptance of the obligation for leadership.”He said they do not currently have any conferences set up, however they both are eager to discuss their end-of-year conferences.”We’re going to have to make independent decisions on

a number of crucial things,”he said.”We can’t fix every issue together, otherwise you reestablish antitrust concerns. … We likewise have to draw people in, so it’s not like 2 votes

alter the world. Certainly 2 conferences settling on things and in the best sort of method have influence.”The SEC on Thursday likewise announced new payment quantities for any of its groups that get approved for the 12-team playoff, which starts this fall. Any SEC team that makes the preliminary will earn$3 million, followed by an extra$ 3.5 million for a quarterfinal look, $3.75 million for a semifinal, and$ 4 million for taking part in the national championship game. That remains in addition to travel costs. Sankey stated those numbers were an SEC policy, and each conference can make its own decisions on particular payments.