SEC's Greg Sankey Says It All: College Sports Isn’t Sustainable, Fans Are Tired Of Discussing NIL And Lawsuits

It's fair to say that fans of college athletics were in agreement with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Monday afternoon, as he laid out the facts on how we are headed down a path of major implications for the future. 

The ongoing frustration between those who play a major part in college athletics has plenty of people wondering what the future looks like moving forward over the next few years. The endless lawsuits, revenue-sharing issues and eligibility problems that are currently running rampant have turned off the average fan of collegiate athletics. 

How can you blame them? It seems as though every week we are witnessing new lawsuits being filed, while Congress continues trying to pass legislation that would fix some of these issues currently being faced head on. 

And, this is not on just the athletes, given the NCAA had zero guardrails setup when NIL was first introduced. 

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Would there ever come a day when the SEC would break off on their own if there are not some type of guardrails installed around the current landscape? Commissioner Greg Sankey did not 

"I don't think anyone on any college campus, maybe one or two, want the status quo to remain," Sankey told Paul Finebaum. "In our league, by a unanimous vote, we can't go on as we are. There's also a recognition that it's never going to be the way it was, but it doesn't have to be the way that it is."

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While Greg Sankey is not a fan of taking the SEC and breaking away from other conferences, there is a line that has to be established moving forward into the future. 

"I think we'd be quickly pulled in to hearings with a lot of questions within our own footprint because our relationships with universities within our states around the Southeastern Conference, those are important on a two-way street. Perhaps it's from funding, from financial payments with games that are played in the non-conference schedule. 

"Perhaps its relationships and efficiencies in learning. It's the connection in March Madness. You know, Sunday is a big day in the United States of America. It's when 360 or so universities all have an opportunity to play basketball." 

But, we are getting to a point where there is a disconnect with fans. In some ways, we've already passed that mark. The ones who are paying for tickets, concessions, parking, NIL collectives, memorabilia, hotels. The fans are the lifeblood of college athletics, even if that means watching from the comfort of their own homes. 

This current product, where offseasons are filled with lawsuits and conversations around how schools are trying to survive the current market, is not going to keep fans engaged. 

We've gone from talking about spring football and potential stars for next season, to who is the next player that has decided to sue the NCAA for a number of different reasons. 

College Sports has lost the plot, and if these commissioners don't figure out a way to re-center the focus back towards the on-field product, there is a chance you will distance yourself even further from the average fan. '

"People are tired of talking about name, image and likeness," Greg Sankey noted. "They're tired of talking about lawsuits. What they want is kinda what the President spoke of, focused on the fields, the courts and the tracks."

No matter which team you root for, in or outside the SEC, I think you can at least agree with the SEC Commissioner that if something doesn't change, keeping fans excited will continue to become a harder task.