The Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference are formally teaming up in an attempt to find solutions to the issues facing college sports.
The two wealthiest and most powerful college conferences announced Friday the formation of a joint advisory group of university leaders and athletic directors. The group’s members and what exactly they will be tasked to examine are still to be determined.
The enterprise of big-time college sports is struggling to adapt quickly under constant legal and political pressures. The NCAA is facing at least five antitrust lawsuits challenging its authority to govern college sports, from how athletes can be compensated to transfer and recruiting rules.
In some of those lawsuits, the Big Ten, SEC and other power conferences are also named as defendants.
“The Big Ten and the SEC have substantial investment in the NCAA and there is no question that the voices of our two conferences are integral to governance and other reform efforts,” Tony Petitti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, said in a release announcing the alliance. “We recognize the similarity in our circumstances, as well as the urgency to address the common challenges we face.”
Petitti and SEC counterpart Greg Sankey, along with the commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference (Jim Phillips) and Big 12 (Brett Yormark) met last week with Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA, to discuss an array of topics — including Baker’s proposal for a new subdivision of Division I.
College sports leaders have been lobbying Congress, both independently and jointly, for help as the billion-dollar industry of major college sports struggles to transition from an outdated amateurism model.
The Big Ten and SEC, fueled by massive media rights deals, are in the process of separating financially from their peer conferences at the top of college sports.
“There are similar cultural and social impacts on our student-athletes, our institutions, and our communities because of the new collegiate athletics environment,” Sankey said in the release. “We do not have predetermined answers to the myriad questions facing us. We do not expect to agree on everything but enhancing interaction between our conferences will help to focus efforts on common sense solutions.”
In the release, the conferences said the group will have no authority to act independently and only serve as a consultant to the two leagues.