Thought this was very interesting...
From Stewart Mandel's Mailbag
Is Greg Sankey the reason for all the angst we are currently experiencing? Or the whipping boy? — David B.
While I’ve given Sankey his share of ribbing, particularly about his push to expand the NCAA basketball tournament, I don’t think he should be your designated scapegoat for the ills of college football. He’s at least paid some mind to the greater good of the sport through the years, most notably the fact he was one of the four people who devised the original 12-team Playoff. No one could say it was in the SEC’s best interest to give the Group of 5 an automatic berth or to make first-round byes exclusive to conference champs.
I’d advise you instead to look north (and west). The Big Ten has hired consecutive commissioners who care little about anything but their own conference’s TV fortunes. The short-lived Kevin Warren era effectively handed over control of his conference to Fox Sports, which sat in the room for its meetings with other networks in 2022, helped put the USC/UCLA move into motion and paid just enough for the league to absorb Oregon/Washington. Warren went along with the ill-fated Alliance, which infuriated Sankey and may have ignited Sankey’s heel turn into more of a power-driven commissioner.
But now comes Tony Petitti, who makes Warren seem noble and altruistic. Petitti is a TV exec whose primary focus is creating more inventory. He was the one first beating the drum behind the scenes for this 14-team/four-auto berth charade. What he wants more than anything is to be able to stage his own “play-in tournament” (No. 3 vs. No. 6, No. 4 vs. No. 5) that he can sell to a network and make even more money. Who cares if it destroys the credibility of the larger CFP enterprise?
Sankey has been an easy target through the years because so many fans resent the SEC’s on-field dominance. He regularly puts himself in front of microphones and cameras, whereas Petitti has been doing less media than any power-conference commissioner I can remember. He’s largely avoided scrutiny as a result. I wonder if that will start changing here soon.
From Stewart Mandel's Mailbag
Is Greg Sankey the reason for all the angst we are currently experiencing? Or the whipping boy? — David B.
While I’ve given Sankey his share of ribbing, particularly about his push to expand the NCAA basketball tournament, I don’t think he should be your designated scapegoat for the ills of college football. He’s at least paid some mind to the greater good of the sport through the years, most notably the fact he was one of the four people who devised the original 12-team Playoff. No one could say it was in the SEC’s best interest to give the Group of 5 an automatic berth or to make first-round byes exclusive to conference champs.
I’d advise you instead to look north (and west). The Big Ten has hired consecutive commissioners who care little about anything but their own conference’s TV fortunes. The short-lived Kevin Warren era effectively handed over control of his conference to Fox Sports, which sat in the room for its meetings with other networks in 2022, helped put the USC/UCLA move into motion and paid just enough for the league to absorb Oregon/Washington. Warren went along with the ill-fated Alliance, which infuriated Sankey and may have ignited Sankey’s heel turn into more of a power-driven commissioner.
But now comes Tony Petitti, who makes Warren seem noble and altruistic. Petitti is a TV exec whose primary focus is creating more inventory. He was the one first beating the drum behind the scenes for this 14-team/four-auto berth charade. What he wants more than anything is to be able to stage his own “play-in tournament” (No. 3 vs. No. 6, No. 4 vs. No. 5) that he can sell to a network and make even more money. Who cares if it destroys the credibility of the larger CFP enterprise?
Sankey has been an easy target through the years because so many fans resent the SEC’s on-field dominance. He regularly puts himself in front of microphones and cameras, whereas Petitti has been doing less media than any power-conference commissioner I can remember. He’s largely avoided scrutiny as a result. I wonder if that will start changing here soon.
