SEC’s most important move this week was doing nothing | Opinion
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MIRAMAR BEACH, FL – So the SEC likes its media rights deal. That’s the takeaway from the most consequential spring meetings in league history.
We like the way we make money, and we’re going to keep it.
As ridiculous as it sounds, there’s nothing left for the most popular conference in college sports to say at this point. No moves that need to be made — yet.
Because the Protect College Sports Act working its way through Congress could put guardrails on the logistical problems facing college sports. A bill that allows the SEC and Big Ten to opt out of pooling media rights with the other eight FBS conferences, while still benefiting from the bill’s ability to provide structure within a currently unstable product.
You know, the substantial problems everyone associated with college sports has either punted on, or reacted with quick fixes that made things worse.
‘We are constantly changing,” said Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz. “We are not allowing anything to stick or get into a rhythm in college football. It feels like we’re always chasing the next.”
And now it might just be time to sit and wait. Don’t do anything rash or counterproductive, don’t panic with reaction — and as important, don’t try to be proactive for the first time in five years of the NIL era.
Just wait.
Wait and see if the revised SCORE Act (because that’s what it is) gets through the House and Senate and is passed into law by President Trump. Wait and see if the federal government provides the guardrails desperately needed for skyrocketing player and coach salaries, free player movement, player eligibility and judge shopping.
And if the wonder of wonders does happen, if a dysfunctional and tribal federal government jointly passes a bill that could go a long way in resetting much of the madness that has evolved from — as Drinkwitz put it — always chasing the next, the SEC can still keep its media rights deal.
The fact the SEC’s response to four days of consequential crazy at its annual spring meetings was we’re not sharing our television deal goes a long way in explaining where we are in college sports.
Who knows if the proposed bill will pass, but if it doesn’t, we’re back to the same unknowns clouding the future of college sports. And more important for the SEC, back to a defining decision that picked up steam this week.
Does the league break away and form its own structure and play by its own rules — and yes, be a money-making satellite version of college sports.
Does it settle on a structure that won’t put itself at a competitive disadvantage, giving players a clear option that joining the SEC is the fiscally prudent thing to do — even with limited movement and/or eligibility and stricter guidelines to player earning?
SEC presidents and athletic directors believe the brand is strong enough to do just that. No matter what any other conference will offer.
The SEC isn’t alone. The Big Ten will have to make the same decision, and more than likely will. There’s a reason one of the biggest statements in the bill is the elimination of further conference expansion, and no SEC/Big Ten super league.
Because if the bill doesn’t pass, that’s where we’re headed.
There’s a reason the Big Ten has been pushing the 24-team College Football Playoff, a reason it’s the tip of the spear for the one thing everyone loves about college sports: the competition.
And not about getting dirty in the murky, muddy water of needed change.
Everyone forgets that six weeks ago, Big Ten presidents asked the NCAA for a moratorium on tampering enforcement because the rules for tampering were passed years ago — long before the explosion of the NIL era.
And it barely moved the needle.
Meanwhile, Ole Miss coach Pete Golding is the boogeyman of tampering. The SEC — whose coaches have been overly public this offseason in their displeasure of where the game is headed with a lack of rules and enforcement — is the conference of pushback.
Commissioner Greg Sankey, who prefers a 16-team CFP — but thinks nearly exactly the same way as the other Power conference commissioners on the structure and enforcement of college sports’ biggest off-field issues — is the obstructionist.
Maybe it’s simply just time to breathe and wait. Let the bill work its way through Congress, and see if it passes.
If it doesn’t, then the SEC and Big Ten can go form a super league of 40 teams.
Because that’s where this thing is headed if the bill doesn’t pass.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SEC must wait on Congress to solve college sports chaos
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