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SEC commissioner Greg Sankey fanned the flames around speculation his league is considering potentially distancing itself from the NCAA when he confirmed those internal discussions were “real” on Day 1 of this week’s 2026 SEC Football Kickoff Media Days event in Tampa.
“People have talked about that,” Sankey said Monday. “They’ve opined about the frustrations that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different.”
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Last week, Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger revealed SEC officials are weighing a potential “Plan B” option in the form of a conference-wide governance model should the Senate’s controversial Protect College Sports Act fails to get passed ahead of the upcoming midterms. Still, the idea that the SEC could eventually secede or break away from the NCAA still seems like a longshot proposition at this point.
But, at least according to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, if it were to happen, the SEC wouldn’t be going out on its own. The popular College GameDay analyst believes any actual “break away” from the NCAA would likely involve the Big Ten and possibly the ACC and Big Ten, especially if federal help falls flat.
“Yeah, I think that’s just talking season type stuff. If the SEC breaks away, my guess would be Tony Petitti and the Big Ten would also break away, and maybe the ACC and Big 12,” Herbstreit said during a Wednesday appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show, calling it a “leverage” play from the SEC. “It doesn’t sound like the ‘super league’ (talk) or breaking away is the No. 1 priority, or the goal. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t get (federal) help or some traction on trying to get Congress or the Senate to make some decisions to help them from a federal standpoint.
“If that ends up failing, then I think you start to talk about, ‘OK, what’s the answer going to be?’ But if the SEC breaks away, I don’t think they break away on their own and live in their own world. I think that’s just fodder, people talking right now.”
That said, not everyone at ESPN is exactly confident the SEC and the Big Ten could even accomplish such a feat without significant legal hurdles.
Paul Finebaum explains major roadblock to SEC, Big Ten breaking away from NCAA in ‘Super League’
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum explained the major roadblocks to the SEC and Big Ten breaking away from the NCAA. In doing so, they could hypothetically create their own “super league.”
“I think that’s what they would like to do,” Finebaum said of breaking away on Get Up. “The issue there is litigation for antitrust. If the Big Ten and the SEC suddenly formed a Super League, they would get destroyed in court, and that’s really the issue because all these players are going to court for their sixth, seventh, and eighth year of eligibility. We saw Sorsby do it in the gambling case.
“So I think everyone has to stay on their own terms: The Big 12, the Big Ten, the ACC, but I think they can create their own rules. But without Congress giving them an antitrust exemption, which the major sports leagues have, as you all know, they’re still vulnerable, and that is really where we are right now.”
— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report.
