SEC Commissioner Addresses Expansion as Clemson, FSU Rumors Swirl

DALLAS — The SEC’s slogan, and in many ways its guiding principle, is “It just means more.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the phrase also serves as a determining factor for the league’s decision-makers when it comes to monumental moves such as adding new schools. Oklahoma and Texas pass that test with flying colors, but that doesn’t mean Sankey is looking to expand beyond the current 16 schools in the immediate future.

With three years to digest those landmark additions, however, much of the discussion during Sankey’s opening press conference at SEC media days on Monday centered on further potential moves, with eyes on the legal turmoil within the ACC.

Clemson and Florida State have both sued their longtime conference in an attempt to free themselves from its media grant of rights as the league has fallen behind the SEC and Big Ten in the revenue race. The latest report links Clemson and Florida State to the Big 12 .

Sankey wasn’t interested in entertaining discussion about those schools, however.

“I pay attention,” Sankey said, when asked directly about the Clemson and Florida State situation. “We’re focused on our 16. I’m not a recruiter.”

Sankey repeated that line, “We’re focused on our 16,” four or five times throughout the press conference, emphasizing the measured approach by which the SEC has expanded in recent decades. The league remains focused on its Southeastern footprint, which now spans 12 contiguous states.

“When we expanded we actually restored historic rivalries,” Sankey said, with a nod to Texas and Texas A&M, which will resume their football rivalry this season for the first time since 2011.

Clemson and Florida State are certainly two of the biggest brands in college football outside of the Big Ten and SEC, and if they’re able to break the grant of rights, other ACC programs such as North Carolina and Miami could be attractive expansion candidates.

Sankey is certainly watching those developments, but he’s playing his cards close to the vest, as is to be expected considering how quietly the Oklahoma and Texas expansion developed back in 2021.

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