SEC breaking away from NCAA ‘very real’, but also very foolish

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A storm may be brewing for college football and the NCAA as we know it. During the offseason, rumors surfaced that the SEC and Big Ten were exploring the possibility of breaking away from the NCAA.

While the Big Ten has not pushed the conversation forward, the SEC has. At the very least, conference leaders are beginning to take the idea seriously.

Heather Dinich of ESPN reported as much after SEC commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the speculation.

“It’s very real,” Dinich said.

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“This is something that has been going on for months because SEC Presidents and Chancellors have been talking about this since about February when they met in Nashville to talk about options of self-governance if they cannot get federal legislation. That’s where the conversations are.”

Will the SEC seriously break away?

The discussion stems from issues such as the Brendon Sorsby saga and the current draft of the “Protect College Sports Act.” The SEC believes the NCAA lacks the authority to effectively enforce its rules and also objects to the proposed legislation’s language surrounding media negotiations.

While the SEC’s leadership has raised legitimate concerns and this possibility is now “very real,” breaking away from the NCAA would be a mistake.

The SEC is not a professional sports league with the financial independence to sustain itself entirely on its own. Its member institutions are educational entities subject to public funding, oversight, and regulation.

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The conference has one of the strongest brands and fan bases in college athletics, but what happens if student-athletes unionize? What happens if operating costs and athlete compensation outpace revenue?

By leaving the NCAA, the SEC would lose important legal and organizational protections while making a massive gamble. Whether college football likes it or not, the NCAA remains a necessary evil.

If the SEC truly believes it can fund every athletic program, including both men’s and women’s sports, while operating as an independent sports league, it is fooling itself. If the conference attempts to do so, federal involvement would become far more likely. SEC leadership needs to remember that these athletic departments are part of federally and state-funded educational institutions.

And that’s only the first hurdle. The College Football Playoff, bowl games, and countless other partnerships would all have to be reconsidered. Breaking away would almost certainly put many of those relationships at risk.

The SEC is overplaying its hand. It is not a standalone professional sports business but a collection of athletic programs housed within academic institutions. Any belief to the contrary is misguided, and if the conference chooses that path, it may discover the consequences are far greater than it anticipated.

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