Greg Sankey sees 'sadness' in realignment, says SEC comfortable in footprint - ESPN

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said «there's a little tinge of sadness — probably more than just a little tinge,» to see the Pac-12 on the verge of collapse after more than 100 years of existence, and as the flurry of events unfolded last week that ultimately left the Pac-12 with four teams, «it just wasn't one of those great feelings to work in college sports in my experience.»

«I take responsibility where we've made moves,» Sankey said during a lengthy interview on the Paul Finebaum Show on Tuesday. «But there was something different last week about the questions around the existence of the Pac-12 conference, given its long and storied history.»

Last week, Washington and Oregon announced their intent to join the Big Ten, and Arizona, Arizona State and Utah decided to join the Big 12. The drastic decisions left Washington State, Oregon State, Stanford and Cal looking for a conference home in 2024 if the Pac-12 isn't capable of piecing itself together again.

Sankey said he called Washington State athletic director Pat Chun and Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir to tell them, «I don't have any solutions, but I have great empathy.»

While the Pac-12 was amid uncertainty, Florida State president Richard McCullough unabashedly told the board of trustees in a public meeting that the Seminoles would «very seriously» consider leaving the ACC unless there is a radical change to the league's revenue distribution model. That of course prompted speculation of where FSU would possibly go, and Sankey was with his conference athletic directors at a Cubs game in Chicago when people began reaching out to him about the volatility of it all.

«I've opined publicly that I think the speculation in some of the pronouncements we've seen