We have Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Labor, Big Oil. What are we to call the nation’s top football conference that adds powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma? Big SEC?
If one needed to be convinced of what’s most important about college football in general, and the Southeastern Conference in particular, one needs only to read the news stories about the two Big 12 schools invited to join the SEC.
The stories are not filled with giddy sports writer takes on how an Alabama playing an Oklahoma every year would go, or how the teams that currently find themselves in the middle of the pack (Tennessee Vols, we’re looking at you) would fare in a tougher league, or how specific players would perform if they faced Texas and Oklahoma every year and not necessarily Arkansas and Missouri.
No, the stories are all about money and television rights and contracts.
Indeed, we had to roll our eyes at SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey’s quaint mention of the words “academic excellence” in the league’s news release about its schools’ unanimous vote to invite powerhouses Texas and Oklahoma to join the league in 2025.