SEC
Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive talks with reporters during the SEC football media days in Hoover, Ala., in this 2013 file photo.Read moreWiedmer: Slive is real boss of NCAA
On the verge of wrapping up his 12th year as Southeastern Conference commissioner, Mike Slive announced in March that he was not ready to step down and that he would work through the 2014-15 athletic calendar.
His reasons are justifiable.
The SEC Network is just several weeks away from launching, and it could create as much as $450 million annually for the conference by lining up 30 million subscribers in the league’s 11-state footprint. Distribution of the SEC Network has been limited to this point, but Slive also is an integral figure in the NCAA’s anticipated restructuring that would give autonomy to the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 in regard to new rules regarding student-athletes.
“This is a historic moment,” Slive said in a news conference Friday as the league’s spring meetings concluded in Destin, Fla. “If we don’t seize the moment, we’re going to make a mistake.”