Greg Sankey shares state of Texas’ importance to SEC’s success

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey recently appeared at the Texas High School Coaches Convention, where he discussed various topics regarding the college football landscape as a whole and the Southeastern Conference specifically.

With the conference adding Oklahoma and Texas to their roster in 2024, the SEC will be adding a new market in Oklahoma and doubling down on the state of Texas as the Longhorns join Texas A&M. And at the convention, Sankey was asked how important the state of Texas is to the SEC and its future.

“Well they’re all important, all of what will be 12,” Sankey said not trying to play any favorites. “Having lived in Texas and I moved to Allen when it was 17,000 [people] and now I was just told it was over 200,000. I remember when Frisco was a flashing yellow light, a Ford dealer, a Mexican restaurant, and a water tower and now look at what Frisco, Texas is. And that’s representative of the economic power, the opportunity, but we’ve got that across our states.”

The SEC first expanded its footprint to Texas in 2012 after adding Texas A&M along with Missouri to the conference, and 11 years later it’s safe to say the Aggies and the SEC have both benefited from the partnership. Texas A&M has celebrated 10 winning seasons since joining the conference, success in the recruiting space, and major facility upgrades and the SEC has continued to generate unprecedented amounts of revenue.

But Sankey believes every state represented in the SEC has similar importance and capabilities as Texas with their respective schools as well.

“I think part of what we’ve seen in the growth of the Southeastern Conference is not attributable to any one thing, but one of the factors has been the demographic shift and the economic opportunities provided across our states, and Texas certainly has both of those factors,” Sankey said.

There are not many states that love football as much as Texas, and bringing more of those fans to the SEC through the addition of the Longhorns is surely something Sankey is excited about despite his calm demeanor at the Texas High School Coaches Convention.

Texas will provide the conference with one of the biggest brand names across all of collegiate athletics and a gargantuan amount of potential in regards to generating revenue when they join the SEC in 2024. And whether Sankey is willing to admit it right now or not, the state of Texas will be a major part of how the SEC does business in the future.

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