SEC Spring Meetings in Miramar, Florida began on Monday. The football, basketball, and athletic directors descend upon the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort and Spa to discuss potential rule changes, business, and ways to enhance the SEC. Of course, they also are forced to suffer on a beautiful beach in Florida for a few days.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the media on Monday night. Nobody asked about Texas (I was on a plane when he spoke but received the audio). However, there will be plenty of Longhorn-related questions that I will ask this week. In addition, I should be able to sit down with Texas athletic Chris Del Conte and football coach Steve Sarkisian at some point this week.
This assignment makes up for all those forgettable trips to Lubbock.
--- An interesting topic of discussion this week is the potential of a student participation report in the SEC. Sankey stopped short of calling it an injury report. However, they are contemplating a version of it.
Sankey said, “We are going to have a discussion about student-athlete availability reporting. Members of our staff have been working on this project since last summer. I referenced some considerations we would have. That doesn’t mean there’s going to be a decision. In fact, you should not expect a decision. But you should expect a discussion. That’s obviously different than the culture that has existed over college athletics for much of time … We don’t want to rush into something. It’s not injury reporting. It’s a very different circumstance given some of the privacy issues we have. Yet, when you start to see the numbers of dollars being bet on legalized sports gambling or college sports. Not just football, but men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and baseball, all of those catch your attention. We have to be thoughtful about how information is managed.”
--- Sankey said he expects Texas and Oklahoma to have several representatives at this week's meeting. Last year, Chris Del Conte, Jay Hartzell, Chris Plonsky, and John Bianco represented Texas in a limited capacity since the Longhorns had no voting power. However, Sankey expects that to change this year.
--- Sankey said they will announce the kickoff times for the first three weeks of the SEC football season on Thursday.
--- In addition, Sankey said the early kickoff times will be announced in June. However, the season will have a six-day and 12-day flex window.
--- Sankey does not expect a lot of discussions about future football scheduling.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the media on Monday night. Nobody asked about Texas (I was on a plane when he spoke but received the audio). However, there will be plenty of Longhorn-related questions that I will ask this week. In addition, I should be able to sit down with Texas athletic Chris Del Conte and football coach Steve Sarkisian at some point this week.
This assignment makes up for all those forgettable trips to Lubbock.
--- An interesting topic of discussion this week is the potential of a student participation report in the SEC. Sankey stopped short of calling it an injury report. However, they are contemplating a version of it.
Sankey said, “We are going to have a discussion about student-athlete availability reporting. Members of our staff have been working on this project since last summer. I referenced some considerations we would have. That doesn’t mean there’s going to be a decision. In fact, you should not expect a decision. But you should expect a discussion. That’s obviously different than the culture that has existed over college athletics for much of time … We don’t want to rush into something. It’s not injury reporting. It’s a very different circumstance given some of the privacy issues we have. Yet, when you start to see the numbers of dollars being bet on legalized sports gambling or college sports. Not just football, but men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and baseball, all of those catch your attention. We have to be thoughtful about how information is managed.”
--- Sankey said he expects Texas and Oklahoma to have several representatives at this week's meeting. Last year, Chris Del Conte, Jay Hartzell, Chris Plonsky, and John Bianco represented Texas in a limited capacity since the Longhorns had no voting power. However, Sankey expects that to change this year.
--- Sankey said they will announce the kickoff times for the first three weeks of the SEC football season on Thursday.
--- In addition, Sankey said the early kickoff times will be announced in June. However, the season will have a six-day and 12-day flex window.
--- Sankey does not expect a lot of discussions about future football scheduling.
