Final Notes From Destin
June 4th, 2010 03:29 PM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
A few final nuggets from the SEC meetings in Destin today. There were few surprises.
Let’s start with the cash split:
* In 1980, the SEC sliced up $4.1 million and divvied it out among the 10 member institutions.
This year, as expected, the SEC divided up $209 million and paid each of the league’s 12 members about $17.3 million. That represents a 57.7% increase over the amount of money paid out last year. And I’m not even going to do the math on the percentage increase over 1980.
* Mike Slive would not go into detail regarding the league’s expansion plans. He was asked by many people in many ways… but he would reveal nothing.
* Slive did reveal that most television contracts have clauses that would lead to a renegotiation if a conference were to expand. In other words, if the SEC grows, you can expect ESPN and CBS to renegotiate their deals with the league — as we’ve reported on this site previously.
* As expected, the league decided not to reseed the SEC basketball tournament.
* Slive said the league has no intention of moving the SEC Championship Game from Atlanta. There is no “outdoor” push in the SEC as there was in the NFL which recently granted a future Super Bowl to New York City.
* Mississippi State fans can use their cowbells, but they cannot use them during actual game play. That’s the compromise that was expected. However, the league is going to pay close attention this year to see if State fans abide by the rules and only ring the cowbells at prescribed times. If they do not, it’s likely that the SEC will decide at next year’s spring meetings to start levying fines against MSU.
* Slive said it would be difficult to help Alabama on the scheduling front. But the schedule is not finalized, so Bama could still get help. Frankly, it’s surprising that the league didn’t lock in the SEC’s schedule. We are now less than 100 days from the start of the season.
* Slive also said that the SEC will not lead the push for an early signing period in football. The commissioner said that the presidents, athletic directors and even the league’s coaches were against the idea.
