SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey Comments On What He Has Learned About OU And Texas

Greg Sankey addressed the media Monday morning during day one of SEC Media Days at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference has been a hot topic during the lead-up to the conference gathering in Dallas for the first time. Sankey was asked about what he learned in his visits to Norman and Austin over the last couple of weeks.

“In both places, you saw the passion for their programs play out,” Sankey said. “And then in individual interactions, while I walked around campus, either running on Sunday morning in Austin or Monday morning in Norman with a logo on, people doing a double take.”

“It was fun to see in those communities displays of the SEC logo at a leadership level, to have deep conversation about what the decision means for each campus and … talking about what it means for the conference.”

“I learned that both clearly made the — what one of our athletic directors called — the ’It Just Means More’ test,” Sankey said. “So that avid fan base that I spoke of earlier … both Oklahoma and Texas bring that same type of avid fan base to a set of peer universities and peer athletic programs,” he said. "I also learned that it's hot in a tuxedo in Norman, Oklahoma, on a football field late at night in July."

“We are the one conference whose name still means something, Southeastern,” he said, “as our expansion restored historic rivalries while adding only 100 miles to our longest previous campus-to-campus trip.”