Fire Greg Sankey if the SEC starts cutting sports

[aubiefifty 18,113]

al.com

Goodman: Fire Greg Sankey if the SEC starts cutting sports

Updated: May. 30, 2024, 10:07 a.m.|Published: May. 30, 2024, 6:32 a.m.

6–7 minutes

This is an opinion column.

______________________

SEC spring meetings take place in Sandestin at an expansive resort on the beach.

It’s a beautiful little work junket for the league.

Coaches bring their families. Administrators do, too. There’s a big party with an open bar. There’s free golf. Television executives fly in to keep the wheels of big business well greased. Reporters tag along to cover the shindig, soak it all in and enjoy the scenery.

Everyone acts like important meetings are taking place, but these guys couldn’t even bother to vote for playing nine conference football games last year.

What I’m saying is this: SEC spring meetings are just a big excuse to spend a whole lot of money on nothing.

Because the SEC has tons of money, and the SEC needs to spend all that money on something. After all, it’s a nonprofit organization. Its official mission is to help member institutions organize championship events.

The real mission of the SEC, though, is to generate as much money as possible for everyone except the athletes playing the games.

But that’s about to change.

Goodman: Can Birmingham-Southern still be saved?

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Goodman: Birmingham-Southern swings for the fences one last time

Major donations, positive vibes fueling Birmingham-Southern baseball

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I wonder how many athletes are at SEC spring meetings representing the interests of athletes? Something tells me not enough, if any at all.

Instead, we have guys like SEC commissioner Greg Sankey saying vague things like “hard decisions” will need to be made when the athletes start getting paid. Instead, we have Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne uttering banal words about deferred maintenance for stadiums.

The implication, of course, is that non-revenue sports might need to be cut to pay athletes.

“There may have to be hard decisions,” Sankey said. “Some I can’t even begin to imagine.”

Said Byrne: “Last year, we spent $20 million in deferred maintenance. That’s to make sure steel is reinforced. Concrete is reinforced … deferred maintenance isn’t real sexy but you have to do it.”

Let me just make this emphatically clear. If teams in the SEC begin cutting sports before Sankey and Byrne begin cutting their salaries, then they both need to be fired.

The bald-faced audacity of Sankey threatening “hard decisions” while organizing an opulent all-expenses paid summer vacation for coaches and administrators of his league is so comically ridiculous that it sounds like the idea of a very bad skit on “Saturday Night Live.”

If Sankey wants to keep earning his paycheck, then Sankey needs to figure out how football can make the most money possible. Is it by further ruining college football, or is it by making college football the best version of what it can be?

Maybe start with 10 conference games every year and go from there. Suddenly, these are not hard decisions after all.

It doesn’t take a genius to do simple math.

If Byrne can’t keep the books balanced when it comes time to pay players, then he’s going to need to cut the bloated salaries of coaches, administrators and support personnel. Maybe football teams don’t need so many employees for recruiting and breaking down film after all.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is set to make $13 million per year. How is Georgia going to pay players? Maybe start by slashing Smart’s preposterous salary down to a measly $2 million a year and go from there.

Sankey makes $3.6 million a year. Byrne makes $2.625 million per year. They should be making no more than university presidents and college deans.

Here’s the truth about college sports. They have to spend what they make. These are non-profits, after all.

No, these were scams. College athletics are big business. It’s just fraudulent business built on a framework that has been deemed to break antitrust laws. For a long time, all the money was given to coaches, athletic directors, construction companies, third-party contractors, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

Now some of it needs to be given to players.

Major college athletics are ways for executives and coaches to bilk the system for millions of dollars because they didn’t have to pay the employees. Welp, not anymore.

The Olympic sports aren’t going anywhere. It’s the runaway salaries of guys like Sankey and Byrne that need to be wiped from the books. These are just college sports, after all. That’s what everyone with a microphone keeps saying. College sports are different. College sports aren’t pro sports.

Exactly right. Then why do administrators need to make multi-million dollar salaries when the athletes get nothing?

It was illegal all along and no one is letting them off the hook if they continue stealing money by cutting college sports.

SOUND OFF

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

[aubiefifty 18,113]

I am not real sure where this goes but here it is anyway.

[AuburnNTexas 7,300]

10 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

al.com

Goodman: Fire Greg Sankey if the SEC starts cutting sports

Updated: May. 30, 2024, 10:07 a.m.|Published: May. 30, 2024, 6:32 a.m.

6–7 minutes

This is an opinion column.

______________________

SEC spring meetings take place in Sandestin at an expansive resort on the beach.

It’s a beautiful little work junket for the league.

Coaches bring their families. Administrators do, too. There’s a big party with an open bar. There’s free golf. Television executives fly in to keep the wheels of big business well greased. Reporters tag along to cover the shindig, soak it all in and enjoy the scenery.

Everyone acts like important meetings are taking place, but these guys couldn’t even bother to vote for playing nine conference football games last year.

What I’m saying is this: SEC spring meetings are just a big excuse to spend a whole lot of money on nothing.

Because the SEC has tons of money, and the SEC needs to spend all that money on something. After all, it’s a nonprofit organization. Its official mission is to help member institutions organize championship events.

The real mission of the SEC, though, is to generate as much money as possible for everyone except the athletes playing the games.

But that’s about to change.

Goodman: Can Birmingham-Southern still be saved?

Documentary on BSC baseball draws interest from streaming services, producer says

Goodman: Birmingham-Southern swings for the fences one last time

Major donations, positive vibes fueling Birmingham-Southern baseball

Goodman: Inside an ‘insane’ day of food-poisoning and history for Birmingham-Southern baseball

I wonder how many athletes are at SEC spring meetings representing the interests of athletes? Something tells me not enough, if any at all.

Instead, we have guys like SEC commissioner Greg Sankey saying vague things like “hard decisions” will need to be made when the athletes start getting paid. Instead, we have Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne uttering banal words about deferred maintenance for stadiums.

The implication, of course, is that non-revenue sports might need to be cut to pay athletes.

“There may have to be hard decisions,” Sankey said. “Some I can’t even begin to imagine.”

Said Byrne: “Last year, we spent $20 million in deferred maintenance. That’s to make sure steel is reinforced. Concrete is reinforced … deferred maintenance isn’t real sexy but you have to do it.”

Let me just make this emphatically clear. If teams in the SEC begin cutting sports before Sankey and Byrne begin cutting their salaries, then they both need to be fired.

The bald-faced audacity of Sankey threatening “hard decisions” while organizing an opulent all-expenses paid summer vacation for coaches and administrators of his league is so comically ridiculous that it sounds like the idea of a very bad skit on “Saturday Night Live.”

If Sankey wants to keep earning his paycheck, then Sankey needs to figure out how football can make the most money possible. Is it by further ruining college football, or is it by making college football the best version of what it can be?

Maybe start with 10 conference games every year and go from there. Suddenly, these are not hard decisions after all.

It doesn’t take a genius to do simple math.

If Byrne can’t keep the books balanced when it comes time to pay players, then he’s going to need to cut the bloated salaries of coaches, administrators and support personnel. Maybe football teams don’t need so many employees for recruiting and breaking down film after all.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart is set to make $13 million per year. How is Georgia going to pay players? Maybe start by slashing Smart’s preposterous salary down to a measly $2 million a year and go from there.

Sankey makes $3.6 million a year. Byrne makes $2.625 million per year. They should be making no more than university presidents and college deans.

Here’s the truth about college sports. They have to spend what they make. These are non-profits, after all.

No, these were scams. College athletics are big business. It’s just fraudulent business built on a framework that has been deemed to break antitrust laws. For a long time, all the money was given to coaches, athletic directors, construction companies, third-party contractors, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

Now some of it needs to be given to players.

Major college athletics are ways for executives and coaches to bilk the system for millions of dollars because they didn’t have to pay the employees. Welp, not anymore.

The Olympic sports aren’t going anywhere. It’s the runaway salaries of guys like Sankey and Byrne that need to be wiped from the books. These are just college sports, after all. That’s what everyone with a microphone keeps saying. College sports are different. College sports aren’t pro sports.

Exactly right. Then why do administrators need to make multi-million dollar salaries when the athletes get nothing?

It was illegal all along and no one is letting them off the hook if they continue stealing money by cutting college sports.

SOUND OFF

Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind for the mailbag. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

This article hits the nail on the head. The amount of money spent on coaches administrators, and as mentioned here extravagant parties and not on players is what led to where we are today.

[woodford 3,713]

Greg Sankey is such an embarrassment. He is one of the architects in destroying college football. 

[aubiefifty 18,113]

19 minutes ago, woodford said:

Greg Sankey is such an embarrassment. He is one of the architects in destroying college football. 

i agree as i thought he would be better.

[AU120289 408]

Concerning expenses (schools and $EC), a scan of the GLs would be  entertaining. As noted in the article, plenty of wasted spending across the board that could be addressed. Even funnier would be the explanations for those expenditures. 

[keesler 5,943]

Ridiculously high coaching salaries, bloated coaching staffs, astronomical coaching buyouts paid out like it’s nothing is the reason why athletes want a piece of the pie.  Auburn, aTm, Texas, Florida, LSU just to name a few,  paid out over $500 million in buyouts and hiring multiple staffs in the last 5 years for crying out loud.  
 

Did folks expect athletes to just sit back quietly and watch those millions pour out to coaches the program no longer wanted to coach and expect them to be okay with it?

[DAG 34,552]

Why would they fire him? Ridiculous notion by the author. This will be a nation wide discussion because the money has to come from somewhere. Sports that are not bringing revenue will be hit hard along with smaller schools. Should've thought about this stuff when coaches, leaders of institutions, etc were filling their pockets off the back of these athletes. 

[keesler 5,943]

3 minutes ago, DAG said:

Why would they fire him? Ridiculous notion by the author. This will be a nation wide discussion because the money has to come from somewhere. Sports that are not bringing revenue will be hit hard along with smaller schools. Should've thought about this stuff when coaches, leaders of institutions, etc were filling their pockets off the back of these athletes. 

Yep!  Everyone university hoarded boatloads of money for decades and coaches, ADs, bloated athletic departments, bloated support staff all raking in millions.  The universities kicked the can down the road far too long and refused to give the athletes a taste.  Now they’ll pay up and be forced to “make tough decisions”, they shouldn’t have been so damn greedy for so long.

[DAG 34,552]

1 minute ago, keesler said:

Yep!  Everyone university hoarded boatloads of money for decades and coaches, ADs, bloated athletic departments, bloated support staff all raking in millions.  The universities kicked the can down the road far too long and refused to give the athletes a taste.  Now they’ll pay up and be forced to “make tough decisions”, they shouldn’t have been so damn greedy for so long.

It is just so amazing to me that fans are so reactive to this stuff. You hit the nail on the head about the buyouts. Coaches making millions to suck or be average at their job. 

[AU-24 3,128]

  The attitude I took with professional sports: they won’t/don’t get one dime of my money and by not one dime, I mean: no professional sports paraphernalia, certainly no game tickets, parking, concessions, etc… I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

  The only professional sporting event I have watched on television for approximately the last ten years has been the Super Bowl possibly every other year. That is usually because I’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party. Even then, I refuse to watch the ridiculously, politically motivated halftime shows.

  Not saying, everyone should be like me, but if everyone did this, financial situations and decisions would certainly change. It simply baffles my mind that people making $20,000 a year and above will buy overpriced tickets into a professional sporting event, pay for parking, pay $7.00 or more for a beer, then go to the local sporting goods stores and pay $65-$165 for a team jersey. I just don’t get it!

  I hate to think of doing the same with college sports and my Auburn Tigers but if I have to, I will.

  My obvious point: putting a stop to all this nonsense is in our own hands and wallets… But back to the professional sports example, I guess people are just too addicted to it, to put a stop to it. I just hate the fact that college sports is going down the same road.

Edited June 1 by AU-24

[DAG 34,552]

4 hours ago, AU-24 said:

I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

Them:  

[Hank2020 3,283]

14 hours ago, DAG said:

Why would they fire him? Ridiculous notion by the author. This will be a nation wide discussion because the money has to come from somewhere. Sports that are not bringing revenue will be hit hard along with smaller schools. Should've thought about this stuff when coaches, leaders of institutions, etc were filling their pockets off the back of these athletes. 

I agree with the premise that a well thought out plan would have worked better. I also believe any plan they would have come up with opening the door to allow money to go to players would have would up exactly where we are today. 

[Hank2020 3,283]

11 hours ago, AU-24 said:

  The attitude I took with professional sports: they won’t/don’t get one dime of my money and by not one dime, I mean: no professional sports paraphernalia, certainly no game tickets, parking, concessions, etc… I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

  The only professional sporting event I have watched on television for approximately the last ten years has been the Super Bowl possibly every other year. That is usually because I’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party. Even then, I refuse to watch the ridiculously, politically motivated halftime shows.

  Not saying, everyone should be like me, but if everyone did this, financial situations and decisions would certainly change. It simply baffles my mind that people making $20,000 a year and above will buy overpriced tickets into a professional sporting event, pay for parking, pay $7.00 or more for a beer, then go to the local sporting goods stores and pay $65-$165 for a team jersey. I just don’t get it!

  I hate to think of doing the same with college sports and my Auburn Tigers but if I have to, I will.

  My obvious point: putting a stop to all this nonsense is in our own hands and wallets… But back to the professional sports example, I guess people are just too addicted to it, to put a stop to it. I just hate the fact that college sports is going down the same road.

In the context you describe (professional sporting events) how is CFB any different? I would also add that if you watched superbowls, that is participating in every sense of the context.

[DAG 34,552]

55 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

I agree with the premise that a well thought out plan would have worked better. I also believe any plan they would have come up with opening the door to allow money to go to players would have would up exactly where we are today. 

I don’t think it would’ve been a free for all if they would’ve just given up a little. I believe that would’ve placated some of the resistance from the players. However, they forces the hand of the players who now have all the leverage. Quite frankly, they were smart to get ahead of it all because they have been getting their asses handed to them throughout the legal system. 

[gr82be 14,848]

12 hours ago, AU-24 said:

  The attitude I took with professional sports: they won’t/don’t get one dime of my money and by not one dime, I mean: no professional sports paraphernalia, certainly no game tickets, parking, concessions, etc… I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

  The only professional sporting event I have watched on television for approximately the last ten years has been the Super Bowl possibly every other year. That is usually because I’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party. Even then, I refuse to watch the ridiculously, politically motivated halftime shows.

  Not saying, everyone should be like me, but if everyone did this, financial situations and decisions would certainly change. It simply baffles my mind that people making $20,000 a year and above will buy overpriced tickets into a professional sporting event, pay for parking, pay $7.00 or more for a beer, then go to the local sporting goods stores and pay $65-$165 for a team jersey. I just don’t get it!

  I hate to think of doing the same with college sports and my Auburn Tigers but if I have to, I will.

  My obvious point: putting a stop to all this nonsense is in our own hands and wallets… But back to the professional sports example, I guess people are just too addicted to it, to put a stop to it. I just hate the fact that college sports is going down the same road.

Boycotting might make people feel like they are sticking to principles but it’s darn near impossible to boycott major sponsors of the NFL just by doing normal life. Fed Ex delivers to the world whether you chose them or not. I respect your choice but I guess I try to consider that there are people working for these companies who may not like some things going on as well but they have to eat so… I haven’t always agreed with everything my place of employment has stood for but I’d probably have to start my own company for that to change. I agree with you on the halftime shows, haven’t watched those in years. 

Edited June 1 by gr82be

[aucom96 1,648]

A stupid article from Goodman, per usual. 

Coaching salary is a product of the previous model, now gone, but you don't just throw it away. Top coaches will still be the key to get big bank accounts to invest in your athletic programs. If you have a winning program to date, you aren't just going to "cut the coach's salary" to pay more for players. We have opened the door to a game with no rules and no real ability to make them. Even if you have a low paid staff and invest everything in your roster, you have no contracts to really build anything beyond one year. Your coaches have no real leverage now where their top players are concerned and the costs to keep a full roster, in football in particular, are going to be exponential if you want a prayer of competing at the top. That means the parties, fundraisers, expensive cajoling of broadcasters, boosters, sponsors, etc. is only going to have to increase by a large factor just to get the money to pay these players... on top of Taj Mahal type resident and training facilities, event venues, staffing and the like. You might pay less for on the field roles, but the year to year scramble that is current recruiting will increase off the field pay for administrators, scouts, evaluation, etc. 

Football, basketball and baseball bring in money, but you can't just pay them. As unions set in, you'll have to pay every "student athlete" something and that creates big questions for colleges who were never set up to be pro level ball and are not currently being afforded a legal infrastructure to operate like pro level ball. So yes, this is absolutely going to result in less money going to other programs or programs getting cut altogether. That's fairly obvious. You can cut Sankey's and Smart's salaries to pennies and that will still be the case. 

Then you have to deal with programs like Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and probably three quarters of schools in college athletics having to face the reality of the financial stratification of their programs. How willing are these teams going to be to sink a black hole of money into middling to lower middling results? We're in that boat, too. Will watching Georgia, Ohio State, bama, Texas and the other NIL heavy hitters be enough to keep college football ratings worthwhile of this fat broadcast contracts they've subsisted on for so long? 

Players are getting paid and I certainly understand the moral arguments that lead to it, but from a business standpoint, their pay is now tied to a product. It's not a charity. And if the product is chaotic and built of a very shaky foundation, that goose and its golden eggs may be living on borrowed time. 

[JuscAUse! 1,630]

Unintended consequences. Wait till someone's favorite player(s) demand more money and leave for uat or uga or .... whoever after one year, cause AU can't pay what he wants. Something will have to change , and it will. Hopefully some entity will set some guidelines if rules prove impossible to implement. Interesting times for sure.

[TigerOne 1,187]

There should be reduction clauses in coaches salaries if they underperform.

If so Freeze owes us all compensation.

But yeah stupid probably under the influence article by Goodman. How about fire all sports writer hacks instead. Talk about something that’s not needed it’s opinions from them.

[Hank2020 3,283]

6 hours ago, DAG said:

I don’t think it would’ve been a free for all if they would’ve just given up a little. I believe that would’ve placated some of the resistance from the players. However, they forces the hand of the players who now have all the leverage. Quite frankly, they were smart to get ahead of it all because they have been getting their asses handed to them throughout the legal system. 

True, they definitely are trying to find a systematic approach to allow CFB to hang around. It would be interesting if they will require players to vote a union in as I assume all athletes (no matter the sport) would get to vote. 

[DAG 34,552]

48 minutes ago, Hank2020 said:

True, they definitely are trying to find a systematic approach to allow CFB to hang around. It would be interesting if they will require players to vote a union in as I assume all athletes (no matter the sport) would get to vote. 

Good question. I have been wondering if the players would unionized as this was something talked about with Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields, but for whatever reason it never came to fruition. In fact, if the college leaders would've just met them halfway, things wouldn't be anywhere close to where they are now. 

[TitanTiger 21,064]

Goodman is an idiot. 

The reality is, some non-revenue sports are going to have to take a step back in terms of how much it costs to have them. That might mean that while the players still get scholarships to satisfy Title IX requirements for instance, the amount of travel is going to have to drastically be reduced. That means rather than having to regularly fly to Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, and so on, those sports will play against teams that are within reasonable driving distance. So they will in effect cease to be SEC sports.  And it will happen for every power conference. It’s just inevitable when one sport is responsible for 95% of the revenues and only a handful more come close to breaking even. 

And it might mean that some sports go away.

That’s not to say coaching salaries couldn’t stand to be cut a little bit, but it’s not gonna come close to making up from the money that’s about to go out to pay players and bring some sort of regulation to all this NIL stuff.

 

[arktiger1975 642]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:12 AM, woodford said:

Greg Sankey is such an embarrassment. He is one of the architects in destroying college football. 

Wasn't he one of the masterminds behind all this realignment BS?

[TripleDegreeTiger 122]

On 6/1/2024 at 1:00 AM, AU-24 said:

  The attitude I took with professional sports: they won’t/don’t get one dime of my money and by not one dime, I mean: no professional sports paraphernalia, certainly no game tickets, parking, concessions, etc… I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

  The only professional sporting event I have watched on television for approximately the last ten years has been the Super Bowl possibly every other year. That is usually because I’ve been invited to a Super Bowl party. Even then, I refuse to watch the ridiculously, politically motivated halftime shows.

  Not saying, everyone should be like me, but if everyone did this, financial situations and decisions would certainly change. It simply baffles my mind that people making $20,000 a year and above will buy overpriced tickets into a professional sporting event, pay for parking, pay $7.00 or more for a beer, then go to the local sporting goods stores and pay $65-$165 for a team jersey. I just don’t get it!

  I hate to think of doing the same with college sports and my Auburn Tigers but if I have to, I will.

  My obvious point: putting a stop to all this nonsense is in our own hands and wallets… But back to the professional sports example, I guess people are just too addicted to it, to put a stop to it. I just hate the fact that college sports is going down the same road.

The costs have closed big time. Concession pricing is pretty much the exact same at Jordan Hare as it is at American Airline's Arena in Dallas.

Cost for shirts and hats etc are the same. Nike is going to charge the same price for a polo with AU on it as they are if it had the Mavericks logo on it. Plenty of college fans that make poor financial decisions and donate and buy season tickets, gear, etc that shouldn't.

I've gone to Rangers/Stars/Mavericks games for less than an Auburn football game. They all have family packages they offer. The cost really are not that different anymore (depending on your team). Went to a Stars playoff game for less than a Georgia or Alabama game.

College is losing many of the things that separated it from the pro's for me in the tradition/rivalry area. I was always a college first person followed by Dallas sports teams. I don't watch random pro games like I would college though unless out with friends.

[cbo 8,556]

On 6/1/2024 at 1:00 AM, AU-24 said:

 I have emailed all professional sports major sponsors and told them I would not be buying any of their products for myself, my family and friends to include Christmas presents, birthdays, other holidays, etc.

You emailed every major sponsor of every professional sport? That must have taken forever.

Why are you so upset with all professional sports? I checked back twice to see if I missed it. I'm honestly baffled by this one.