Sankey: Centralizing power in college football would 'dumb down' SEC

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey doesn't think college football needs its own commissioner.

"I've studied it a little bit and I come back to, I don't want to dumb down the Southeastern Conference to be a part of some super league notion with 70 teams that some people speculate would happen," Sankey said on a recent episode of "The Triple Option podcast."

He also believes other conferences would use centralization as an attempt to catch up to the SEC.

"They want to be us and that's on them to figure it out, not on me to bring myself back to earth," he added.

Collegiate sports have undergone seismic changes, including conference realignment, transfer rules, and NIL regulations, among others. Athletic administrators and fans have called for top-down governance, with many asking for a commissioner to handle disputes between schools and leagues.

But Sankey doesn't think a central governing body would fix those problems.

"I think there's probably more of that (commissioner) possibility happening now because of the disdain for what's happened in some compartments, but just having a commissioner wouldn't solve the transfer portal and legalities around that," he said.

The SEC and Big 10 are in line to collect record profits following the latest expansion. Texas and Oklahoma are in the midst of their first seasons as full members of the SEC, while four former Pac-12 programs - Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA - are playing out their inaugural campaigns in the Big Ten. Athletic directors from the two leagues are reportedly meeting this week to discuss issues like the College Football Playoff format as well as scheduling agreements.

The College Sports Tomorrow advisory panel recently revealed a proposal called the "College Student Football League," which would divide the FBS into two leagues. Most of the power conferences would be in one league with the other composed of primarily Group of Five programs.