Speaker 1: Everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals play by play
Speaker 1: announcer Dave Pash. Our guest this week is the Commissioner
Speaker 1: of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Sanky. Greg is somebody who
Speaker 1: has become one of the most powerful voices and faces
Speaker 1: in all of college sports. We'll talk with Greg about
Speaker 1: potential NCAA tournament expansion as well as college football playoff
Speaker 1: expansion and will it happen in twenty twenty four. The
Speaker 1: board was clear that comes twenty six. Their clear expectation
Speaker 1: as we have a twelve team format to the extent
Speaker 1: it's possible we could go early. We've got some conversations
Speaker 1: over the upcoming weeks that may move us to that conclusion,
Speaker 1: to that finish line, but I'm not really clear that
Speaker 1: that still can happen. There's there's still work to be done.
Speaker 1: Greg has spent a lot of time here in Arizona.
Speaker 1: He cites one of the early championship games at State
Speaker 1: Farm Stadium as being a springboard to the current success
Speaker 1: of SEC football. We are presented by BETMGM, the official
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Speaker 1: problem called one eight hundred. Next step. All right, now
Speaker 1: it's time for our conversation with the Commissioner of the SEC,
Speaker 1: Greg Sankey. Well, first of all, Greg is somebody who,
Speaker 1: like me, has ties to Central New York. He went
Speaker 1: to grad school at Syracuse. Tell me about I know
Speaker 1: you're probably pretty busy and don't get a chance to
Speaker 1: watch a lot of NFL. Obviously, you guys have turned
Speaker 1: out a ton of players into the NFL, including here
Speaker 1: in Arizona. Who's your NFL team, the Bills. So back
Speaker 1: when I was young, you could watch the Giants, Suggets,
Speaker 1: and the Bills. None of them were very good in
Speaker 1: the seventies, at least at that point, and I went
Speaker 1: with the Upstate New York team, which you know, people
Speaker 1: in like New York City consider where I'm from an
Speaker 1: upstate New York, Canada close even further so. I'm a
Speaker 1: Bills fan, which was great for those four Super Bowls,
Speaker 1: except they lived in Dallas, which made it more difficult
Speaker 1: going to Super Bowl watching parties. Since two of them,
Speaker 1: two of the four ward against the Cowboys. They might
Speaker 1: be the team to beat this year the way Josh
Speaker 1: Allen is playing. No. They you know, they got to
Speaker 1: win over Kansas City this week and I didn't see
Speaker 1: any of it. Last year, I watched exactly one full
Speaker 1: NFL game, and it was the game against Kansas City
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, which was heartbreaking. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: end up emotionally invested in a lot of football sent
Speaker 1: I usually have multiple teams playing, and that was the
Speaker 1: one and it went the wrong way. Yeah, if you're
Speaker 1: going to pick one to watch, it was a great
Speaker 1: one to watch just as a fan. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, if you're a Bills fan, yeah, I totally
Speaker 1: get that. As somebody who spent time at Syracuse, you know,
Speaker 1: when you graduated from there and you got your masters,
Speaker 1: I think the year was ninety three, what did you
Speaker 1: think you would do? You've been at the SEC now
Speaker 1: for two decades and commissioner since twenty fifteen. What did
Speaker 1: you think you'd do when you left there? When I
Speaker 1: was born and raised in central New York, so I
Speaker 1: grew up about twenty miles from campus towards the west,
Speaker 1: outside a little town called Skinny Atlas. And when I
Speaker 1: finished my undergrad degree, like my horizon that I could
Speaker 1: see towards was about, you know, Aubany to the east,
Speaker 1: Buffalo to the west, down to Binghamton, maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit further north than Syracuse, but not much because of
Speaker 1: the lake effects snow. Kind of working in teaching and coaching,
Speaker 1: that was my idea. And then I was at Syracuse
Speaker 1: for my grad school because I was a full time
Speaker 1: employee Utica College and they paid for my grad school,
Speaker 1: which is great and at the end, which is really
Speaker 1: where your question started, but the lead up was I
Speaker 1: had to complete an internship to graduate. So at the
Speaker 1: end of my actual class work, I could have stayed
Speaker 1: up there and worked in like summer camps about there's
Speaker 1: some basketball camps if you remember the Empire State Games,
Speaker 1: if they were around when you were at do some
Speaker 1: of that work. And I just decided to see if
Speaker 1: Division one athletics was something where I could find an opportunity.
Speaker 1: And my wife and I were just married. We've been
Speaker 1: married like three or four months when I started sending
Speaker 1: resumes out and we're about to celebrate our thirty fourth
Speaker 1: wedding anniversary. And just said to her, you know, I'd
Speaker 1: like to find out if I could work in college
Speaker 1: athletics at the Division one level, and if I can,
Speaker 1: how far might go? And you know I've clearly answered that,
Speaker 1: Ques yes to the top. You're one of the most
Speaker 1: powerful people in college sports and you're running the top
Speaker 1: football conference. A lot of people say to me and
Speaker 1: others that work for ESPN, you guys are biased against
Speaker 1: the SEC. Bias is the wrong word, because that has
Speaker 1: a negative connotation that somehow it's unfair. But the SEC
Speaker 1: is the best, that's the best football, and we've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of players come through the Cardinals that played
Speaker 1: in the SEC, and we're great players in the SEC
Speaker 1: and have gone on to become great players here with
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. You're pretty active on social media, and one
Speaker 1: of the things you've you've tweeted over the years has
Speaker 1: been your love affair with Marathon, something that I can't
Speaker 1: say that I share with you. You've run over forty
Speaker 1: and is it true that you ran a marathon per
Speaker 1: month for a year? I did. Yeah, that was my
Speaker 1: midlife crisis. So it's like cheaper than a sports cars,
Speaker 1: morally objectionable, and so many other outlets that people explore,
Speaker 1: and it was I enjoy the running. Obviously there are
Speaker 1: the cardiovascular benefits, but the mental aspect, the mind clearing,
Speaker 1: the ability to just kind of get away and think
Speaker 1: and deal with the challenge had a lot of meaning
Speaker 1: for me. And once I started. The first marathon I
Speaker 1: ran was actually in nineteen eighty eight, the Sunday morning
Speaker 1: after my wife and I were married on a Saturday night,
Speaker 1: so I've i've like introduced the level of her tolerance
Speaker 1: and patience of my career explorations and running. And then
Speaker 1: I was in my early forties when I ran my
Speaker 1: second one, and since it's been so long, I decided,
Speaker 1: a since I'm in shape, I'll just kind of keep
Speaker 1: going a little bit like the Forrest Gump movie. And
Speaker 1: I think it was oh eight, I realized if I
Speaker 1: had thought about it, I would have run one a
Speaker 1: month for that year, and I became intentional about doing so.
Speaker 1: I think I actually ran sixteen consecutive months I ran
Speaker 1: a marathon in and there was one of those months
Speaker 1: where I ran back to mac marathons with about eight
Speaker 1: days one week basically apart, which I don't recommend actually
Speaker 1: based on how the second one went. How do you
Speaker 1: train for that? How much sleep do you have to get?
Speaker 1: How much running do you do as part of the training.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you gotta stay hydrated. What do you eat
Speaker 1: like during that training period? I would I had a
Speaker 1: route in. I didn't follow a rigid training plan, kind
Speaker 1: of listened to my body. I knew that my peak
Speaker 1: preparation run would be twenty miles, which is its own adventure.
Speaker 1: And I live now in Birmingham, Alabama. When I trained
Speaker 1: for the first one, I ran in Utica, New York,
Speaker 1: and between the hills and kind of a running community
Speaker 1: there that was that was pretty easy. But where I
Speaker 1: lived in Birmingham, I had about a six to eight
Speaker 1: mile route around our neighborhood and then I was on
Speaker 1: the shoulder of a state highway. As I told people
Speaker 1: what I was doing, they thought I was like out
Speaker 1: of my mind. But I could run the grass and
Speaker 1: this is not like the sophisticated elite training plan. But
Speaker 1: I had I had on my route any number of
Speaker 1: convenience stores where I could go out and get a gatorade.
Speaker 1: And it was really about doing the distance in total.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't worried about, you know, pace. So if
Speaker 1: I ran an hour, grabbed the gatorade, walked a half
Speaker 1: a mile, then re engaged, that really prepared me pretty well.
Speaker 1: You know. Again, I wasn't elite. I'm six two way
Speaker 1: probably two hundred and five pounds at the time, so
Speaker 1: I was in the Clydesdale division. My best time was
Speaker 1: a three hour fifty three experience, which is pretty good.
Speaker 1: And I got to the point where I could control
Speaker 1: my pace pretty well through the entirety, right around four
Speaker 1: hours a little bit under. And again the mental challenge,
Speaker 1: I was always nervous at the beginning. I had a
Speaker 1: whole routine. You know, I wouldn't eat much while I
Speaker 1: was actually running, you know, I'd be careful about what
Speaker 1: he ateh the night before, I will confessor a couple
Speaker 1: of times, eight ribs like the day before. And I
Speaker 1: still made it through. But the experience for me and
Speaker 1: I did New York, I did Boston, Zoula, Montana. One
Speaker 1: of them was up in Prescott, Arizona. At altitude. It
Speaker 1: was a pretty neat experience. It was kind of like
Speaker 1: nine miles uphill, then four miles down the other side,
Speaker 1: then four miles back up and nine miles back down,
Speaker 1: and one of those memorable experiences. Speaking of Arizona, you've
Speaker 1: been out here for Fiesta Bowls and national championships. Just
Speaker 1: your thoughts on State Farm Stadium obviously the home of
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, and your experience is here in the Phoenix area. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the first one out there, I remember. So the stadium
Speaker 1: was relatively new, the Florida Ohio State National Championship game,
Speaker 1: which really set off our string of successes over the
Speaker 1: last fifteen or so years. I walked in to the
Speaker 1: stadium kind of down to where the stadium floor was,
Speaker 1: next to Senator John McCain. And as I'm walking by myself,
Speaker 1: Senator McCain's there. He's got a couple of staffers, and
Speaker 1: I'd just like, I'm going to introduce myself to him,
Speaker 1: just out of respect for who he was and how
Speaker 1: he led and what he what he did over his lifetime.
Speaker 1: The POW experience, and so I said hello. I told
Speaker 1: him my name. I told him I worked for the
Speaker 1: Southeastern Conference. He said, you guys are gonna feel good tonight.
Speaker 1: You're you're gonna get this one. And remember this wasn't
Speaker 1: at the end or in the midst of an area
Speaker 1: of era of dominance. This was the beginning. LSU had
Speaker 1: won a couple of years before, and then we've got
Speaker 1: a couple of years without having a team in and
Speaker 1: I would say it was one, Florida was two. And
Speaker 1: I said, well, you know, I hope you're right. I'll
Speaker 1: have to play really, I said, no, the difference will
Speaker 1: be the defensive line speed that Florida has. And if
Speaker 1: you remember the game, that was a huge factor. And
Speaker 1: I've often thought about that. Either he paid a lot
Speaker 1: more attention than I would have thought, or he had
Speaker 1: a staff member brief him. And I've had enough conversations
Speaker 1: with senators that they pay a lot of attention to this.
Speaker 1: So I've credited him for knowing and he was exactly right.
Speaker 1: And then my first National championship experience as commissioner was
Speaker 1: in January of twenty sixteen. You know the Clemson Alabama game.
Speaker 1: Remember the onside kick that Alabama executed so well, we won,
Speaker 1: which was a really fun experience. And on a personal side,
Speaker 1: in my family and I have been into Phoenix and
Speaker 1: then driven down south the Tucson to Sells, Arizona and
Speaker 1: done some work through a church group there. So we've
Speaker 1: had any number of experiences in the state, but have
Speaker 1: really enjoyed the successes when the National Championship Game has
Speaker 1: been held in the Phoenix area, Well, you've done a
Speaker 1: tremendous job. The SEC is on top of the sports
Speaker 1: world in college and in particular the college football world.
Speaker 1: What will the addition of Oklahoma and Texas mean for
Speaker 1: the SEC and do you still see the SEC East
Speaker 1: and SEC West in the future or do you think
Speaker 1: eventually you will get rid of the divisions as it
Speaker 1: relates to the meaning. You know, the cliche that we
Speaker 1: use is it will just mean more. And I think
Speaker 1: the addition of those two may have us like really
Speaker 1: typing in big letters in bold print that tagline because
Speaker 1: uniquely for expansion of members we restore rivalries. Obviously we'll
Speaker 1: be able to maintain the Oklahoma and Texas rivalry. A
Speaker 1: lot of folks us on Texas A and M and
Speaker 1: Texas playing again. But the history of the Arkansas Texas
Speaker 1: games is really quite spectacular and has deep meaning for
Speaker 1: both universities Oklahoma and Missouri. I've actually had conversations about
Speaker 1: their wrestling teams and you know how that plays out.
Speaker 1: You know, might that be something we could explore via
Speaker 1: the SEC network because of the success and prominence that
Speaker 1: both of those teams have. We don't have that as
Speaker 1: a sport sport, but it speaks to the relationship Oklahoma
Speaker 1: and Missouri had through their Big Eight membership in twenty
Speaker 1: five percent of the old Big Eight will soon be
Speaker 1: part of the Southeastern Conference, and then as you think
Speaker 1: about you big brands in the level of competition, that
Speaker 1: will just be magnified. And as it relates to scheduling,
Speaker 1: my observation upfront when we added the tour, announced the
Speaker 1: addition of Oklahoma in Texas was that we kind of
Speaker 1: engage in blue sky thinking like big pictures, step away,
Speaker 1: remover straints, think about all the options, but we also
Speaker 1: want to see our teams come through our campuses more frequently,
Speaker 1: you know, particularly in football. You take Missouri played at
Speaker 1: Auburn this year as an example that game has not
Speaker 1: been played in Auburn before. George is not played in collegation,
Speaker 1: and we have that in our current configuration, the crossover games,
Speaker 1: it may be ten or twelve years before those teams
Speaker 1: meet up, and so we want to see that happen
Speaker 1: with greater frequency. One of the ways we can do
Speaker 1: so is to have a single division format that has
Speaker 1: become the focal point. That doesn't mean it's a done deal,
Speaker 1: but if we are in a single division, the question
Speaker 1: will be are we going to play eight or nine games?
Speaker 1: There's mixed views on that, and it's about being able
Speaker 1: to maintain some rivalries that will be prominent games in
Speaker 1: either eight or nine games. Allows us to cycle everyone
Speaker 1: through home and away over a four year period of time,
Speaker 1: so being able to see Texas and Georgia play home
Speaker 1: and a way that would happen twice in four years.
Speaker 1: You know, Texas m playing Florida, it happens later on
Speaker 1: in this year's schedule. It happened every other year in
Speaker 1: that new format, and you can multiply that for it.
Speaker 1: So we think that's a smart strategy. We still have
Speaker 1: some decisions to make, but the fundamental is, let's see,
Speaker 1: our big brands are big teams and there are going
Speaker 1: to be sixteen of those moved through all of our
Speaker 1: campuses with greater frequency. Do you see adding more schools
Speaker 1: or is sixteen a good number for the SEC? My
Speaker 1: view is sixteen's a very healthy number. At our media
Speaker 1: days was very intentional to say we're not on their
Speaker 1: recruiting trail. We're confident in our decision making. We're comfortable
Speaker 1: with who we are as a conference. We know our identity,
Speaker 1: we understand our fan base, and we don't think it's
Speaker 1: necessary to just shoot for a number when we made
Speaker 1: the decision around Oklahoma and Texas. We have philosophically aligned
Speaker 1: athletics programs that want to provide incredible experiences for young
Speaker 1: people who seek to compete at a national championship level
Speaker 1: on university campuses that are on the cutting edge and
Speaker 1: among the leading universities in the nation, and we've done
Speaker 1: that in a contiguous way. We don't have some of
Speaker 1: the travel that our colleague conferences face. And I don't
Speaker 1: just mean that about the Big Tens move, but some
Speaker 1: of our other colleagues have very distant trips. Our longest
Speaker 1: trip when we go to sixteen will be Columbia, South
Speaker 1: Carolina to Austin, Texas, which is eighty or ninety miles
Speaker 1: longer than the College station to Columbia, South Carolina trip.
Speaker 1: And if there are changes that happen around us, we're
Speaker 1: certainly mindful of the chatter that exists. Will be prepared
Speaker 1: if there are more pieces of the puzzle that are moving.
Speaker 1: But we're not ones that are looking at a number,
Speaker 1: are looking to be the recruiter, if you will, in
Speaker 1: this conference membership movement. Sure. Sure. In terms of expansion
Speaker 1: of the college Football Playoff going to twelve teams in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, how optimistic are you that that's going
Speaker 1: to happen? What has to happen, and what are the
Speaker 1: financial benefits of getting it done sooner than twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: I know that's a multi pronged question there. Well, my
Speaker 1: sense is that there's a desire to facilitate early onset
Speaker 1: of an expanded playoff. Your question about the likelihood, I
Speaker 1: think that really remains to be seen. There are a
Speaker 1: number of realities in front of us that don't just
Speaker 1: go away because we want to make it work. The will, though,
Speaker 1: is there to make it work, and you know one
Speaker 1: of those issues is dates for first round games. We
Speaker 1: focused on on campus sites. There's a lot that happened
Speaker 1: around campuses across this country with final exams, the end
Speaker 1: of semester classes, December graduation. You have an NFL schedule
Speaker 1: that's expanded its number of games, which means it's it's
Speaker 1: covering more weeks. That creates some challenges. And so those
Speaker 1: are just two that are top of mind. I think
Speaker 1: the board was clear that come twenty six, their clear expectations.
Speaker 1: We have a twelve team format for the college football Playoff,
Speaker 1: and to the extent it's possible we could go early.
Speaker 1: We've got some conversations over the upcoming weeks that may
Speaker 1: move us to that conclusion, to that finish line, but
Speaker 1: I'm not really clear that that still can happen. There's
Speaker 1: there's still work to be done. Can you elaborate on
Speaker 1: some of the things that are hurdles or obstacles to
Speaker 1: getting it done sooner? Greg? Yeah, Yeah, Well one is,
Speaker 1: you know, we introduced an idea, and we spent a
Speaker 1: year not really acting on the details because we had
Speaker 1: conferences that were just opposed. And this summer some circumstances
Speaker 1: changed and the presidents regathered and now we have a
Speaker 1: twelve team format. Expectation The reality is the loss of
Speaker 1: the time to deal with the issues comes at a price,
Speaker 1: and that price is we're trying to move rapidly and
Speaker 1: we still have to be thoughtful on our decision making.
Speaker 1: So I'll go back. You know, we've got championship games
Speaker 1: scheduled that first weekend in December. That's our tradition. Where
Speaker 1: do you fit in first round games, some of which
Speaker 1: are with teams who may have played in playoff are
Speaker 1: achieving in conference championship games? So how do you provide
Speaker 1: for rest, recovery and preparation. You have that campus conflict.
Speaker 1: Where do you place games for TV windows? If in
Speaker 1: the NFL tradition is at that point, like the third
Speaker 1: week of the season, there are games on Saturday, Sunday
Speaker 1: and Monday, Well, that creates window limitations for college football
Speaker 1: playoff expansion. You then go forward to the bowl games.
Speaker 1: We have agreements with six bowl games that extend through
Speaker 1: the twenty five season, which is part of a twelve
Speaker 1: year contract cycle. There has to be work done to
Speaker 1: adjust those dates. It's not simply saying we were going
Speaker 1: to play your bowl game on a different date. Cities
Speaker 1: have to adjust, hotels have to adjust. I think you
Speaker 1: to my earlier comment, Dave, there's a will to move
Speaker 1: that forward. We also have to adjust the back end
Speaker 1: the semi finals and championship gate date timing and where
Speaker 1: those games are played and when. Even though it's a
Speaker 1: couple of years out, you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: demand for hotels and convention space and planning and preparation
Speaker 1: around those citywide type activities that are important revenue drivers
Speaker 1: and economic engines, and those elements have to be adjusted.
Speaker 1: And then you go back to kind of the small
Speaker 1: ball type issues are in the weeds. The details of
Speaker 1: campus hosting is brand new to college football. So we
Speaker 1: host games every week, but in the postseason we're used
Speaker 1: to neutral sites generally hosted in bowl games that have
Speaker 1: great experience and a wide array of support. And so
Speaker 1: we're talking in about twelve days to go to some
Speaker 1: small college towns with enormous competitive experiences, and we need
Speaker 1: to we need to make sure that we've got the
Speaker 1: ability to support those games and the most positive way possible.
Speaker 1: So that's a quick list with high level headings, and
Speaker 1: you can unpack that, and we could probably put people asleep.
Speaker 1: If I get well, and I know you're pressed for time,
Speaker 1: as well, but a couple more we'll let you go.
Speaker 1: How realistic is it given what you said about the
Speaker 1: NFL extending its season on the back end, with regular
Speaker 1: season games ending January eighth now instead of the first
Speaker 1: of the year, moving up college football a week, so
Speaker 1: Week zero becomes week one, and then you have two
Speaker 1: weeks of college football essentially before NFL starts. Is that realistic?
Speaker 1: I don't know, As the honest answer, it's an idea
Speaker 1: that has been identified previously. The NCAA has a Football
Speaker 1: Oversight Committee. That committee looked at this issue a few
Speaker 1: years ago. At that time with the idea that you'd
Speaker 1: have a standard fourteen week season and everybody would have
Speaker 1: two weeks, two open weeks embedded in their season. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: the view of the bowl subdivision representatives, it was not
Speaker 1: to advance that moved back to week zero. I expect
Speaker 1: that will be reconsidered, particularly as we look towards the
Speaker 1: twenty sixth season. I'm not necessarily an opponent or an advocate.
Speaker 1: I'm a realist to know that the conversation will take place.
Speaker 1: That brings me back to the honest answer, as I
Speaker 1: don't know. There were reasons that we collectively did not
Speaker 1: move to week zero when it was explored previously. We'll
Speaker 1: have to consider those reasons. We'll have to look at
Speaker 1: the fit of the preseason, practice period, the regular season itself,
Speaker 1: it's conclusion then leading into a playoff, to see if
Speaker 1: the structure might be supported and if you will defend
Speaker 1: it in a positive way. Knowing we've got summer school,
Speaker 1: we have varying start dates for fall semester classes or
Speaker 1: in some circumstances, fall quarter classes. All of those things
Speaker 1: play into the decision, which again was considered not that
Speaker 1: long ago and ultimately not advanced sure in terms of
Speaker 1: men's basketball, women's basketball as well NCAA tournament expansion, I
Speaker 1: believe the quote was you said, fresh look is something
Speaker 1: that you want to explore, and Jim Phillips, the ACC Commissioner,
Speaker 1: just recently touched down that as well. Can you elaborate
Speaker 1: on what expansion of the NCAA tournament like look might
Speaker 1: look like and would there be a rewarding of regular
Speaker 1: season champions that would be involved in that. My entry
Speaker 1: into this conversation has an entertaining backstory. I was in
Speaker 1: the middle of an interview with Pat Forty and he
Speaker 1: asked me about you know, NCAA championships. I cod share
Speaker 1: a transformation committee's have been labeled for the nca And
Speaker 1: I said, look, Pat, because I've been through a set
Speaker 1: of meetings where people were all concerned about things being
Speaker 1: taken away, I said, look, I don't want to make headlines.
Speaker 1: And Dave, when I learned is when I say to
Speaker 1: someone I don't want to make headlines, I should just
Speaker 1: shut my mouth. Whatever follows is going to be reported.
Speaker 1: And that's you know, Pat, like, what's kind enough to
Speaker 1: call back and said, hey, that's news. And what I
Speaker 1: said was, there's so much, if you will, tension in
Speaker 1: Division one about things being taken away like access to championships.
Speaker 1: But why don't we change flip the script and talk
Speaker 1: about growth? And have I thought about what the growth
Speaker 1: might look like? Uh? You know generally, yes, Do I
Speaker 1: have a plan or do I demand that this take place?
Speaker 1: I don't, But I do know that we've watched the
Speaker 1: men's tournament grow from sixty four to sixty eight to
Speaker 1: facilitate a few more teams. We've seen some of those
Speaker 1: teams advanced as far as the final four that played
Speaker 1: in Dayton. That we're part of this this at large edition,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a relevant conversation. Some people will
Speaker 1: say you should go to eighty or ninety six. I
Speaker 1: can be flexible around the number. I am comfortable with
Speaker 1: conference champion access continuing what I've learned, and my example
Speaker 1: is was really Texas and them being left out this
Speaker 1: year when they were playing really high level basketball. NET
Speaker 1: was good, but not good enough. You know Oklahoma had
Speaker 1: an even better NET was left out. When you look
Speaker 1: at Old Miss. In baseball, when's the College World Series,
Speaker 1: is generally recognized as the last team in and you
Speaker 1: wonder about the first team out. Wow, if the last
Speaker 1: team in is that quality, and you've seen in men's
Speaker 1: basketball teams advance out of that eleven seed spot playing
Speaker 1: each other in Dayton to the final four, perhaps we
Speaker 1: should think differently, and that's what created the introduction. I
Speaker 1: think there are a variety of different formats that can
Speaker 1: be explored. My view is we should be more thoughtful
Speaker 1: than just thinking that we're stuck, and we should overcome
Speaker 1: the fear that something is being taken away. We have
Speaker 1: opportunities to add and likely even enhance the level of competition. Well,
Speaker 1: if it was up to my college basketball broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Bill Walton, every Pack twelve team would get it in,
Speaker 1: so you would have to expand you would have to
Speaker 1: I've heard that advocacy or two above many other interesting things.
Speaker 1: That may be one of his Duller observations. I had
Speaker 1: him on this podcast Greg last year and he told
Speaker 1: a story about how Wilt Chamberlain threw a ball a
Speaker 1: football ninety yards underhand on a rope somehow. Either that's
Speaker 1: a true story and there was some enhancements involved to
Speaker 1: get to that point or build misary members well that
Speaker 1: we're in the entertainment business. Either way, it's still entertaining, right,
Speaker 1: and last question for you, and certainly in my mind,
Speaker 1: the most important question that I've asked today. The picture
Speaker 1: that you tweeted out with a Delirian was that the
Speaker 1: real Delirian from Back to the Future. I was in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: It was two in the morning when I pulled next
Speaker 1: to that car. It was at something called Dragon Con,
Speaker 1: where people spent three or four days in Atlanta on
Speaker 1: Labor Day weekend dressed up as their favorite characters from
Speaker 1: Star Wars to some things I don't even know and
Speaker 1: can't even imagine what they're supposed to be, and I
Speaker 1: pulled up and there's Doc Brown's DeLorean. I'm not certain
Speaker 1: that one could get up to eighty eight miles per
Speaker 1: hour and cross into I guess the past or in
Speaker 1: the future. I don't There was no certificate of validity.
Speaker 1: I think somebody is passionate about Back to the Future,
Speaker 1: more passionate than me, and I would rank in in
Speaker 1: one of the great movies of all time when you
Speaker 1: look at the irony involved in the connections and the
Speaker 1: guest appearance by Huey Lewis himself. Oh yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that was huge. Yeah, the I think that was just
Speaker 1: a fan and that was his stick. And there was
Speaker 1: a parade. So I rolled in there Thursday night late
Speaker 1: actually Friday morning, and Saturday there was a parade with
Speaker 1: all kinds of things like that involved. I also feel
Speaker 1: like that was the first time. Now it's all over
Speaker 1: the place because of social media, but that was the
Speaker 1: first time in my childhood I remembered where a rock
Speaker 1: star and a and a football Hall of Famer were
Speaker 1: great friends. And you saw Huey Lewis at all the
Speaker 1: forty nine er games because he and Joe Montana were tight.
Speaker 1: Now it's everywhere, but that to me was my first recollection. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Well you can you can appreciate my Central New York routs.
Speaker 1: I saw them in uh eighty five at the Wheat
Speaker 1: Sports Speedway and Weed Sport, New York. Nice, which you
Speaker 1: know what summer when they're rocking at weed Splace. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: then you tagline back in the day. Yeah, yeah, those
Speaker 1: are those are good things. Well, listen, man, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Greg. You're great to talk to. You
Speaker 1: do a phenomenal job, and I know you do a
Speaker 1: lot of these and you probably asked a lot of
Speaker 1: questions that at this point you can't answer. But I
Speaker 1: appreciate you being as candid as you possibly can. And uh,
Speaker 1: best to luck the rest of the season. Always enjoy
Speaker 1: calling your games. Well, happy to do so. I I
Speaker 1: didn't expect the DeLorean question, and I will just say,
Speaker 1: if you're able to lobby those at ESPN to assign
Speaker 1: you to a Labor Day weekend game in Atlanta, you
Speaker 1: ought to take it and go just sit and watch
Speaker 1: the scene that plays out because it is it is
Speaker 1: high level interesting. You know. I missed it then because
Speaker 1: we did the Monday night game. We did the Clemson
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech game in Atlanta. I had no idea what
Speaker 1: was going on. I must really go to the highatt
Speaker 1: and sit and watch. Oh man, I missed all right? Greg?
Speaker 1: Thanks again, Bud, Take care, take care. We covered a
Speaker 1: lot there with Greg. Really appreciate how candid Greg was given,
Speaker 1: how many questions he's been asked, and at this point,
Speaker 1: how much we really don't know about a If the
Speaker 1: College Football Playoff Committee will vote on expanding the twelve
Speaker 1: teams prior to twenty twenty six, will the SEC go
Speaker 1: to just one sixteen team division when Oklahoma and Texas
Speaker 1: men and then also with regard to the NCAA men's
Speaker 1: basketball and women's basketball tournaments, will they expand into how
Speaker 1: many teams? Also, just Greg's great stories on being a
Speaker 1: marathon runner and his love for Huey Lewis and the news,
Speaker 1: which I think if you grew up in the eighties,
Speaker 1: you have to love Huey Lewis and the news. We
Speaker 1: are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner
Speaker 1: of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Resorts and Casinos.
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Twitter at pash Pot. Thanks
Speaker 1: to Commissioner Greg Sanky from the SEC, and thanks to
Speaker 1: you for listening to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.