The Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference announced the formation of a joint advisory group on Friday during the challenging and uncertain landscape that the current era of college athletics presents.
The announcement from the Big Ten and the SEC on Friday caps off a week in which the State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia unified to file a federal lawsuit against the NCAA after a report linked Tennessee to an NCAA investigation this week.
The crux of the move to join together is to combat the ever-present changes and challenges across collegiate sports as the NCAA struggles to maintain a grip on the situation. In a similar reason to why two are better than one in the aforementioned lawsuit against the NCAA, the move is also important because of the nature of the nation’s two biggest and most prominent conferences in the collegiate landscape coming together to work on solutions in improving student-athlete life, along with their own sports programs, and the impact that can have.
“These challenges, including but not limited to recent court decisions, pending litigation, a patchwork of state laws, and complex governance proposals, compel the two conferences to take a leadership role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports,” the SEC’s press release stated on Friday afternoon. “The advisory group will engage with other constituencies as necessary, including consultation with student-athletes and other key leadership groups from within both conferences.”
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The joint advisory group of university presidents, athletic directors, and chancellors comes before a huge wave of changes engulfs the college sports world.
The SEC will bump up to 16 total teams with the additions of Texas and Oklahoma this summer while the Big Ten conference is stretching from sea to shining sea with the additions of Oregon, Washington, Southern Cal, and UCLA – all former Pac-12 members.
“There are similar cultural and social impacts on our student-athletes, our institutions, and our communities because of the new collegiate athletics environment,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said in the press 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.”
The advisory group will have no authority to “act independently” and will solely be used as a consulting body for the two conferences in times of challenge or crisis.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider as more key details and information regarding the joint advisory group have yet to be revealed.
To view the full SEC press release on Friday afternoon, click here.
