SEC commissioner Greg Sankey: NCAA ‘distracted’ by NIL-related cases, needs to focus on ‘big realities’

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says the NCAA should focus on the “big realities” in college athletics rather than pursuing individual cases of recruiting violations of the association’s name, image and likeness (NIL) policy.

In an interview with Yahoo Sports this week, Sankey suggested that the NCAA and its enforcement staff are “distracted” by NIL-related recruiting cases. Though he did not address specific cases, at least two programs in his own league are under investigation over such matters, including Tennessee and Florida. The association recently levied sanctions on Florida State for NIL-related recruiting violations as well.

“I have a history of not commenting on specific matters,” Sankey said when asked about the Tennessee case. “What’s in front of us are a big set of realities. Not simply — quote — cases, but big realities. We need to be dealing with the big realities.”

Those realities are at the center of news that emerged earlier Friday. The SEC and Big Ten are creating a joint advisory group of presidents and athletic directors to explore those most pressing challenges before college athletics.

Those issues include, most notably, more than a half-dozen ongoing antitrust cases that challenge NCAA policy regulating transfer movement, NIL inducements and tampering, as well as cases that could make athletes employees and one, House v. NCAA, that could cost the association billions in retroactive NIL.

“Those are the big pictures that need to be resolved as the primary focus,” Sankey said. “We shouldn’t be distracted by specific matters. We need to deal with the big picture.”

Asked to clarify if he is describing investigations as “distractions,” Sankey said, “I’ll stop there.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is one of the most influential people in college athletics. (Johnnie…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-02-02 17:52:25

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