Q. Hoping you can shed some light on an exciting issue. What does the 2024 SEC broadcast window look like, and will that 3:30 game be the No. 1 game of the week or are you going to move that to primetime?
GREG SANKEY: The broadcast window has become all day from an ABC standpoint. Now, obviously there are other conferences with those affiliations. We have our ESPN, our ESPN2, ESPN U and SEC Network commitments, but one of the opportunities that's created with our new agreement is the ability to have more than only one game a day on broadcast TV.
I was just provided a note based on minutes consumed by the public. The SEC was the most viewed football conference this fall. That's really important because of the limitations we currently experience on broadcast TV opportunities. So for the ABC affiliates, looking to 2024, knowing the interest that already exists in the Southeastern Conference with a relatively small number of television broadcast opportunities, and by that I literally mean over-the-air broadcast. Knowing that. We'll expand; we're going to have more access to households.
The day itself will look much like it does now, an early window, a midday window and a primetime window. We are accustomed through our CBS relationship that the best game of that particular day was often selected by CBS to go into that 3:30 window. There was that one double-header this year, the LSU-Alabama game that was played in the evening.
We don't have those same limits, so the best game of the day might be in primetime with great frequency. We will always have a 3:30 p.m. eastern time SEC game broadcast on ABC.
But a little bit more variability and a lot more access.
I'll also note that our staff is already working on what that broadcast schedule might look like. That won't be released until mid-summer, but remember, elements of that were on a week-to-week basis through the seasons over the last few decades.
When we arrive at media days, we expect to have right around half of our total season games identified for certain broadcast windows. Working with ESPN, ABC, the SEC Network, the opportunity to know the noon eastern time kickoffs throughout the season will allow our campuses and our fans to plan rather than having those six-day and 12-day experiences around that early kickoff.
We'll have some flexibility between the midday and the primetime games and some scheduling which is a bit of an hour differential rather than just waiting and wondering about the entire broadcast day. So great question, and really excited about the opportunity with Disney, ABC, ESPN, the SEC Network, and even the ESPN+ digital platform in the future.
Q. I feel like you already hinted at it in your opening statement, but since it's the hot topic, do you believe that the SEC should have a team in the playoff regardless of the outcomes on Saturday, and if so, do you think the committee will see it the same way that you do?
GREG SANKEY: I do. I think people would expect me to answer that I do.
The overall rigor of our schedule just starting with some simple facts, there are three teams currently ranked in the top 10 with three or more wins over top 25 teams as the rankings currently exist. Two of those teams are Georgia and Alabama.
Obviously Georgia has distinguished itself the last to years as the national champion, is undefeated to this point. We have a one-loss Alabama team that has continued to improve, has won some significant games, has won games by significant scores and has won some close games.
I think the rigor of this schedule reason the SEC has been recognized over time. Not a secret that we didn't have the non-conference success across the board that we've become accustomed to, yet I think the level of football here is still the highest that could be played.
I'll also point candidly to the realities when the SEC teams have entered the College Football Playoff format, our success is unparalleled. It's envied by everyone else.
We've lost in the semifinal once to a non-conference team, to a non-conference team twice in the championship game. The only other losses we've experienced are to ourselves in the National Championship game.
The entire of our record is a basis for the assurance that we will have a team in the CFP for the 10th consecutive year.
Q. You touched on the SEC Championship, and I'm curious its role in the new 12-team playoff era. Is there any worry that it has less import, and for instance, teams that are seeded seventh or eighth may be better off by not playing in it rather than teams that have to play in it and teams that play in it and lose in it might risk falling out of the field?
GREG SANKEY: You think about this history of a conference championship game and the memories of Roy Kramer and what he felt when it was originally introduced, oh, the SEC will never have another contender for the SEC Championship. I'm sure, in fact, I've seen some of the transcripts and reports from some of those questions. It didn't quite work out that way.
When the College Football Playoff was expanded and more was added, plenty of speculation.
I go to the framing of your question. Let's look at the last two years. Last year we would have had a team after the regular season playing in this conference championship game for an opportunity to be in the playoff because of that conference championship opportunity.
You could have had that back -- I have to remember early in my career, I think our '15 and '16 championship games the same way. This year you could have two teams playing for a bye. Conference champions still matter and are part of the expanded format.
I don't use the word worry. We certainly think about it. We have had conversations about what it may mean. I've referenced the need to continue to think through the schedule in a big-picture sort of way. I don't narrow it down to only conference championship game because I think what we've created first has been the envy of others so now all have a conference championship game following our lead, it provides a rallying point for your season, certainly a level of excitement on Saturday that will be remarkable by comparison, and I think that can continue into the future knowing how much SEC Championships mean to each of our football programs.
Q. The SEC conference games are broadcast in Mexico and 17 countries in Latin America. What is your opinion about this upgrade in college football internationally, and in the future do you have in your mind some plans to do synergy with Mexico or Latin American camps, maybe an exhibition game if that's possible? Thanks so much, and gracias, amigo.
GREG SANKEY: Thank you, and it was good to actually meet you after our interactions. The issue of international access to our games has been important. It was actually in my search documents back in 2014 and 2015, how do we continue to think about providing access to all of our coverage, not simply football games, throughout the globe.
For me personally, I was in the country of Oman one time talking about the Auburn-Oregon National Championship game with our bus driver, a young man, an Omani who had watched that game and was asking me questions about American football.
I've been in Killarney, Ireland, walking off a boat on a tour interacting with some of our fans who recognized me, and the same has happened in London. Those are special opportunities and reminders.
I have not had that opportunity in Latin America. I do know that our broadcast opportunities, to answer your first question, they are important, and one of the interesting aspects of my fall is this is the second international broadcast question I've been asked, the first out of the UK, on the college chaps podcast, and you've seen access increase in recent weeks in the UK. So that's very important to us.
The complexities around relocating games from our campuses are real. We have had general conversations about that possibility. But for some, moving a game that might be attended, I don't know, by 20,000 or 30,000 people is a bit easier than relocating a game from a stadium that has 100,000, 103,000, 105,000, 108,000 fans attending. The impact on our communities has been much more of our focus, providing access to those games through stadium upgrades I know is on the minds of our athletics directors, and for our purposes, back to your first question, continuing to provide international access so people can feel and experience our games remains a conversation point and a conversation.
Q. With such a deep field this year for the CFP, there's been a lot of buzz and excitement about the 12-team playoff coming. I'm wondering if you can simply explain to fans why it's not happening this year and could it have happened.
GREG SANKEY: Am I able to simply explain that? No. So that's a simple answer. I think those who stopped and resisted for a long period of time and had difficulty in answering what's the impediment and what do we need to address, and not really having clarity on that, those individuals are better at answering the question than I.
As you know, I was part of a working group to look at a range of options. You can probably quote better than I -- I think we were over 60 different models contemplated. Settled on the 12 because it met a lot of the considerations, priorities and asks.
I'm excited about the future. I think this year, as you say, is a really good indication of what it might mean and the opportunities beyond just four that will be present in the future. I was one who thought this move was appropriate, and the fact it didn't happen more timely, that's just life. We've got four. We're excited about the four, and we look forward to the 12.
Q. Regarding the future of the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, we just wanted to know what the addition of Oklahoma and Texas joining the league, are there any plans to move the championship game to another location?
GREG SANKEY: There are not. The great thing about both Oklahoma and Texas and their leadership is they very much want to be a part of the Southeastern Conference, the history now, about to be 30-year history of our championship game, 28 of them here in Atlanta is one of which they're fully aware. I think if they both or each or individually had an opportunity to participate in our championship game, there will be great excitement here from our new westward members and from any of our western members that might have access. We're looking forward to the future here in Atlanta.
Q. Just wanted to get an idea of your thoughts on Bobby Petrino being announced as the new offensive coordinator in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
GREG SANKEY: You know, it was interesting, no one asked me my opinion last year when he was announced as the new offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, so he's been back in the league. There's history. But I consider that to be history.
I had the opportunity to work with Bobby when he was a head coach at the University of Arkansas. Obviously things changed. He's been back for a year, by all accounts did well in his work at Texas A&M, and I look forward to saying hello to him next time I'm in Fayetteville.
Q. I'm wondering, depending on the success of Texas with the Big 12 Championship and possibly making it into a playoff, how does their success help the SEC going into next year?
GREG SANKEY: I had the opportunity in October to be a part of the OU-Texas or Texas-OU game. I try to walk the line finely on those rivalry games. I was blown away by that experience. The level of excitement around the game itself, but the interaction that existed between myself and just fans in attendance -- I had to walk through the old Cotton Bowl stadium, narrow stairways, to catch up. Went to find Jay Hartzell from Texas. I had seen Joe Harris, the president at Oklahoma, walk through the fans, took pictures, heard the SEC chant from both groups.
I think that's an indication of a base level excitement about our new relationship. The game that day between at that point two undefeated teams magnifies the natural excitement, and I experienced some of that last year in Austin when Alabama played at Texas and this year when Texas played at Alabama. I experienced that day in College Station when Oklahoma scored the eruption from the Texas A&M fans. I think that's what makes our conference special. Both of them will fit into these rivalries. They'll be in new places with new experiences. We'll send our teams to Austin and Norman, many of them for the first time.
It is going to be an incredible season in '24, and an incredible future for the Southeastern Conference as a 16-member league.
Q. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what the slogan "it just means more" means to you.
GREG SANKEY: You know, it began in a creative experience with TRG, our ad firm, as we were trying to create just some spots and a tag line that fit the Southeastern Conference. We'd never hit it right.
I walked in, and I said what we have doesn't work, and I was asked, well, what do you think sets the Southeastern Conference apart, and I said, what we do just means more. They asked me to explain that. I actually started with our universities and their leadership role in our states over time, remembering the Southeastern Conference was created in the midst of the great depression, the economic, the educational impact, the social, the cultural impact, the sport's impact, the rallying point that our universities represent in our region. It just struck me as having so much more depth and meaning where there might not have been major league baseball teams or NFL teams, it was a college athletics program, a college football team, a college basketball team, history you hear about college baseball and how our baseball has improved.
People could touch, they could feel, they could be a part of. When you're in those moments, the pregame last Saturday, it's probably my fifth time to be at that game at Auburn, is unlike any other. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
When I talked about walking into Kyle Field at the end of that game between OU and Texas, they announced the score, the roar, and you find the passion around Texas A&M and that rivalry.
The first time I walked into an Alabama-Texas A&M game in a brand new Kyle Field as the SEC commissioner and just felt the passion that day. Being in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when they played Texas in 2021 by happenstance just weeks after our announcing our expansion to 16, that's a special moment and defines it.
I could go on and on, to be in the Swamp, to be in Jacksonville, the Ole Miss-Georgia game at night, Sandstorm. I'm proud of what Vandy is doing around their facilities, the sellout string at Kentucky. I was there when Missouri first captured the east division, and that crowd was palpable. I was there in '13; that's where I saw a kick six happen; a night game in Baton Rouge, the Egg Bowl that I was at Thursday night. You could just go on and on, and you transfer that to basketball.
I think just speaking those names and those places and those stadiums and those experiences illustrates that tag line in a meaningful way.
I'll finish the answer with the interactions with people who have been part of that experience, some of whom are on this Hall of Fame list, others who are in the College Football Hall of Fame, texting Archie Manning earlier today to have Eli and Peyton here to relive memories, that's a description of what means more to people.
GREG SANKEY: The broadcast window has become all day from an ABC standpoint. Now, obviously there are other conferences with those affiliations. We have our ESPN, our ESPN2, ESPN U and SEC Network commitments, but one of the opportunities that's created with our new agreement is the ability to have more than only one game a day on broadcast TV.
I was just provided a note based on minutes consumed by the public. The SEC was the most viewed football conference this fall. That's really important because of the limitations we currently experience on broadcast TV opportunities. So for the ABC affiliates, looking to 2024, knowing the interest that already exists in the Southeastern Conference with a relatively small number of television broadcast opportunities, and by that I literally mean over-the-air broadcast. Knowing that. We'll expand; we're going to have more access to households.
The day itself will look much like it does now, an early window, a midday window and a primetime window. We are accustomed through our CBS relationship that the best game of that particular day was often selected by CBS to go into that 3:30 window. There was that one double-header this year, the LSU-Alabama game that was played in the evening.
We don't have those same limits, so the best game of the day might be in primetime with great frequency. We will always have a 3:30 p.m. eastern time SEC game broadcast on ABC.
But a little bit more variability and a lot more access.
I'll also note that our staff is already working on what that broadcast schedule might look like. That won't be released until mid-summer, but remember, elements of that were on a week-to-week basis through the seasons over the last few decades.
When we arrive at media days, we expect to have right around half of our total season games identified for certain broadcast windows. Working with ESPN, ABC, the SEC Network, the opportunity to know the noon eastern time kickoffs throughout the season will allow our campuses and our fans to plan rather than having those six-day and 12-day experiences around that early kickoff.
We'll have some flexibility between the midday and the primetime games and some scheduling which is a bit of an hour differential rather than just waiting and wondering about the entire broadcast day. So great question, and really excited about the opportunity with Disney, ABC, ESPN, the SEC Network, and even the ESPN+ digital platform in the future.
Q. I feel like you already hinted at it in your opening statement, but since it's the hot topic, do you believe that the SEC should have a team in the playoff regardless of the outcomes on Saturday, and if so, do you think the committee will see it the same way that you do?
GREG SANKEY: I do. I think people would expect me to answer that I do.
The overall rigor of our schedule just starting with some simple facts, there are three teams currently ranked in the top 10 with three or more wins over top 25 teams as the rankings currently exist. Two of those teams are Georgia and Alabama.
Obviously Georgia has distinguished itself the last to years as the national champion, is undefeated to this point. We have a one-loss Alabama team that has continued to improve, has won some significant games, has won games by significant scores and has won some close games.
I think the rigor of this schedule reason the SEC has been recognized over time. Not a secret that we didn't have the non-conference success across the board that we've become accustomed to, yet I think the level of football here is still the highest that could be played.
I'll also point candidly to the realities when the SEC teams have entered the College Football Playoff format, our success is unparalleled. It's envied by everyone else.
We've lost in the semifinal once to a non-conference team, to a non-conference team twice in the championship game. The only other losses we've experienced are to ourselves in the National Championship game.
The entire of our record is a basis for the assurance that we will have a team in the CFP for the 10th consecutive year.
Q. You touched on the SEC Championship, and I'm curious its role in the new 12-team playoff era. Is there any worry that it has less import, and for instance, teams that are seeded seventh or eighth may be better off by not playing in it rather than teams that have to play in it and teams that play in it and lose in it might risk falling out of the field?
GREG SANKEY: You think about this history of a conference championship game and the memories of Roy Kramer and what he felt when it was originally introduced, oh, the SEC will never have another contender for the SEC Championship. I'm sure, in fact, I've seen some of the transcripts and reports from some of those questions. It didn't quite work out that way.
When the College Football Playoff was expanded and more was added, plenty of speculation.
I go to the framing of your question. Let's look at the last two years. Last year we would have had a team after the regular season playing in this conference championship game for an opportunity to be in the playoff because of that conference championship opportunity.
You could have had that back -- I have to remember early in my career, I think our '15 and '16 championship games the same way. This year you could have two teams playing for a bye. Conference champions still matter and are part of the expanded format.
I don't use the word worry. We certainly think about it. We have had conversations about what it may mean. I've referenced the need to continue to think through the schedule in a big-picture sort of way. I don't narrow it down to only conference championship game because I think what we've created first has been the envy of others so now all have a conference championship game following our lead, it provides a rallying point for your season, certainly a level of excitement on Saturday that will be remarkable by comparison, and I think that can continue into the future knowing how much SEC Championships mean to each of our football programs.
Q. The SEC conference games are broadcast in Mexico and 17 countries in Latin America. What is your opinion about this upgrade in college football internationally, and in the future do you have in your mind some plans to do synergy with Mexico or Latin American camps, maybe an exhibition game if that's possible? Thanks so much, and gracias, amigo.
GREG SANKEY: Thank you, and it was good to actually meet you after our interactions. The issue of international access to our games has been important. It was actually in my search documents back in 2014 and 2015, how do we continue to think about providing access to all of our coverage, not simply football games, throughout the globe.
For me personally, I was in the country of Oman one time talking about the Auburn-Oregon National Championship game with our bus driver, a young man, an Omani who had watched that game and was asking me questions about American football.
I've been in Killarney, Ireland, walking off a boat on a tour interacting with some of our fans who recognized me, and the same has happened in London. Those are special opportunities and reminders.
I have not had that opportunity in Latin America. I do know that our broadcast opportunities, to answer your first question, they are important, and one of the interesting aspects of my fall is this is the second international broadcast question I've been asked, the first out of the UK, on the college chaps podcast, and you've seen access increase in recent weeks in the UK. So that's very important to us.
The complexities around relocating games from our campuses are real. We have had general conversations about that possibility. But for some, moving a game that might be attended, I don't know, by 20,000 or 30,000 people is a bit easier than relocating a game from a stadium that has 100,000, 103,000, 105,000, 108,000 fans attending. The impact on our communities has been much more of our focus, providing access to those games through stadium upgrades I know is on the minds of our athletics directors, and for our purposes, back to your first question, continuing to provide international access so people can feel and experience our games remains a conversation point and a conversation.
Q. With such a deep field this year for the CFP, there's been a lot of buzz and excitement about the 12-team playoff coming. I'm wondering if you can simply explain to fans why it's not happening this year and could it have happened.
GREG SANKEY: Am I able to simply explain that? No. So that's a simple answer. I think those who stopped and resisted for a long period of time and had difficulty in answering what's the impediment and what do we need to address, and not really having clarity on that, those individuals are better at answering the question than I.
As you know, I was part of a working group to look at a range of options. You can probably quote better than I -- I think we were over 60 different models contemplated. Settled on the 12 because it met a lot of the considerations, priorities and asks.
I'm excited about the future. I think this year, as you say, is a really good indication of what it might mean and the opportunities beyond just four that will be present in the future. I was one who thought this move was appropriate, and the fact it didn't happen more timely, that's just life. We've got four. We're excited about the four, and we look forward to the 12.
Q. Regarding the future of the SEC Championship game in Atlanta, we just wanted to know what the addition of Oklahoma and Texas joining the league, are there any plans to move the championship game to another location?
GREG SANKEY: There are not. The great thing about both Oklahoma and Texas and their leadership is they very much want to be a part of the Southeastern Conference, the history now, about to be 30-year history of our championship game, 28 of them here in Atlanta is one of which they're fully aware. I think if they both or each or individually had an opportunity to participate in our championship game, there will be great excitement here from our new westward members and from any of our western members that might have access. We're looking forward to the future here in Atlanta.
Q. Just wanted to get an idea of your thoughts on Bobby Petrino being announced as the new offensive coordinator in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
GREG SANKEY: You know, it was interesting, no one asked me my opinion last year when he was announced as the new offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, so he's been back in the league. There's history. But I consider that to be history.
I had the opportunity to work with Bobby when he was a head coach at the University of Arkansas. Obviously things changed. He's been back for a year, by all accounts did well in his work at Texas A&M, and I look forward to saying hello to him next time I'm in Fayetteville.
Q. I'm wondering, depending on the success of Texas with the Big 12 Championship and possibly making it into a playoff, how does their success help the SEC going into next year?
GREG SANKEY: I had the opportunity in October to be a part of the OU-Texas or Texas-OU game. I try to walk the line finely on those rivalry games. I was blown away by that experience. The level of excitement around the game itself, but the interaction that existed between myself and just fans in attendance -- I had to walk through the old Cotton Bowl stadium, narrow stairways, to catch up. Went to find Jay Hartzell from Texas. I had seen Joe Harris, the president at Oklahoma, walk through the fans, took pictures, heard the SEC chant from both groups.
I think that's an indication of a base level excitement about our new relationship. The game that day between at that point two undefeated teams magnifies the natural excitement, and I experienced some of that last year in Austin when Alabama played at Texas and this year when Texas played at Alabama. I experienced that day in College Station when Oklahoma scored the eruption from the Texas A&M fans. I think that's what makes our conference special. Both of them will fit into these rivalries. They'll be in new places with new experiences. We'll send our teams to Austin and Norman, many of them for the first time.
It is going to be an incredible season in '24, and an incredible future for the Southeastern Conference as a 16-member league.
Q. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what the slogan "it just means more" means to you.
GREG SANKEY: You know, it began in a creative experience with TRG, our ad firm, as we were trying to create just some spots and a tag line that fit the Southeastern Conference. We'd never hit it right.
I walked in, and I said what we have doesn't work, and I was asked, well, what do you think sets the Southeastern Conference apart, and I said, what we do just means more. They asked me to explain that. I actually started with our universities and their leadership role in our states over time, remembering the Southeastern Conference was created in the midst of the great depression, the economic, the educational impact, the social, the cultural impact, the sport's impact, the rallying point that our universities represent in our region. It just struck me as having so much more depth and meaning where there might not have been major league baseball teams or NFL teams, it was a college athletics program, a college football team, a college basketball team, history you hear about college baseball and how our baseball has improved.
People could touch, they could feel, they could be a part of. When you're in those moments, the pregame last Saturday, it's probably my fifth time to be at that game at Auburn, is unlike any other. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
When I talked about walking into Kyle Field at the end of that game between OU and Texas, they announced the score, the roar, and you find the passion around Texas A&M and that rivalry.
The first time I walked into an Alabama-Texas A&M game in a brand new Kyle Field as the SEC commissioner and just felt the passion that day. Being in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when they played Texas in 2021 by happenstance just weeks after our announcing our expansion to 16, that's a special moment and defines it.
I could go on and on, to be in the Swamp, to be in Jacksonville, the Ole Miss-Georgia game at night, Sandstorm. I'm proud of what Vandy is doing around their facilities, the sellout string at Kentucky. I was there when Missouri first captured the east division, and that crowd was palpable. I was there in '13; that's where I saw a kick six happen; a night game in Baton Rouge, the Egg Bowl that I was at Thursday night. You could just go on and on, and you transfer that to basketball.
I think just speaking those names and those places and those stadiums and those experiences illustrates that tag line in a meaningful way.
I'll finish the answer with the interactions with people who have been part of that experience, some of whom are on this Hall of Fame list, others who are in the College Football Hall of Fame, texting Archie Manning earlier today to have Eli and Peyton here to relive memories, that's a description of what means more to people.
