Greg Sankey walks back comments about an SEC breakaway from NCAA

Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising comment at SEC Media Days in Tampa came from neither a coach nor a player but rather from commissioner Greg Sankey.

>Sankey's comments during his opening press conference on Monday quickly made the rounds in the college football world after he confirmed that the SEC has considered breaking away from the NCAA apparatus to form its own organization.

>“They’re real,” Sankey said of those conversations. “People have talked about that. They’ve opined about the frustrations that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different. I do not believe that is a leverage point. I think that’s just honest communication… I think what’s important is those comments represent a high level of frustration in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

>However, it seems he's now trying to walk that sentiment back, at least a little bit. On Wednesday, Sankey stressed that the SEC forming its own rules wouldn't necessarily constitute a breakaway from the NCAA. He added that the league's focus is on improving the current system rather than removing itself from it.

>"Those frustrations are real," Sankey said, per ESPN's Heather Dinich. "What we want to do is make the system better, and if people want to focus on breakaway on the outside, fine. But we focus on different things internally."

>ESPN's Pete Thamel addressed some of the potential hurdles that could stand between the SEC and independence. Namely, Thamel mentioned a television rights deal that currently runs through 2036 and the recently enacted House settlement as agreements that may not be so easy to separate from.

>Whether the SEC opts for some degree of independence in the years to come remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: Sankey doesn't want that to be the focus of the conversation in the lead-up to the 2026 season.

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>This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Greg Sankey walks back comments about an SEC breakaway from NCAA