GREG SANKEY

The Southeastern Conference says it distributed an average of just under $50 million to its 14 member schools for the fiscal year that ended last August.

The NCAA Division I transformation committee has released its final report.

The third in-person meeting of conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff since August ended without a resolution on expansion, but not without optimism.

The athletic directors who lead the schools that play major college football want the sport to continue be governed by the NCAA.

SEC Media Days kicks off with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey displaying the power of the conference.

The Southeastern Conference is a leading player in dramatic changes to the national football landscape.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey says the league “is stronger now than at any other time in our history.”.

College sports leaders visited Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to consider rules to govern name, image and likeness money for college athletes.

The College Football Playoff is set to stick with a four-team format through the 2025 season.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart told a near-capacity crowd at Sanford Stadium the Bulldogs don’t plan to wait another 41 years for their next national championship.

College Football Playoff expansion talks remain stalled and the possibility of implementing a new format by the 2024 season dimmed after three days of meetings failed to produce an agreement.

The latest meeting on expanding the College Football Playoff has wrapped up in Dallas without any announcement.

The Southeastern Conference has extended the contract of Commissioner Greg Sankey, whose league is set to grab even more prominence and wealth with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas.

The commissioners of the Pac-12 and Big 12 are discussing how the two conferences might benefit from working together or maybe even merging.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says losing Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC could slice the value of the league's next television deal by 50 percent.

After the boards of regents for the universities of Texas and Oklahoma voted Friday to accept invitations to the Southeastern Conference, the league announced the Big 12 rivals would start competing in the SEC in the fall of 2025.

Southeastern Conference university presidents voted to invite Texas and Oklahoma to join the league and create a 16-team powerhouse on the field and at the bank.

Texas and Oklahoma have made a request to join the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.

College football coaches around the country are spending much of the offseason urging their players to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

SEC media days were virtual last year because of the pandemic, but they returned on Monday with progress against the COVID-19 pandemic still a major topic of discussion.

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey is echoing a call for potential changes in how college athletics are governed.

The 11 university presidents and chancellors who oversee the College Football Playoff have authorized the continued evaluation of a proposed 12-team playoff.

A new AP survey of athletic directors and conversations with ADs and conference commissioners during March Madness show concern about what would happen to women's college sports under proposals that would put more money in the pockets of some athletes.

The deal makes ESPN the exclusive media rights holder of SEC football and men's basketball, and will end the conference's relationship with CBS after three decades. “So that’s a point of consistency.”The SEC football championship game will also air on ABC. The SEC and ESPN are already in the midst of a 20-year deal that includes a partnership on the SEC Network. For the first time, SEC games will be available for ABC's Saturday Night prime-time slot, too. "So Saturday night, prime time on ABC is the highest profile window, the biggest stage in terms of college football.

Among the three SEC games still on for this Saturday, Arkansas will visit No. Orgeron said he expects most of his players in quarantine due to contact tracing back next week. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said his team only had two positive cases as of Wednesday afternoon, but contact tracing had taken a toll. “Candidly, the numbers around contact tracing have emerged as one of our biggest challenges to playing. “The contact tracing has the potential to magnify even one positive test,” Sankey said.

A Sept. 30 memo after the opening weekend of the SEC season included a reminder to coaches to be mindful of masking up and following other sideline protocols. According to the latest memo, going forward SEC schools will be “assessed a $100,000 reduction in Conference revenue” for failure to adhere to requirements. Repeat offenders will face an increase in lost revenue by $100,000 per offense and even suspensions, the memo said. The NFL has fined several coaches $100,000 for improper use of face coverings and docked their teams $250,000. Georgia coach Kirby Smart acknowledged this week he had been talked to by the commissioner and others about keeping his mask on.

Gone, too, are some of the league’s best players, including LSU wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and much-anticipated new Georgia quarterback Jamie Newman. In the season of COVID-19, SEC teams finally open their 10-game league only schedule on Saturday. Even SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Wednesday: "I still am in the hold my breath moment a bit.”So are coaches. Most SEC coaches are playing it close to the vest in identifying players who will miss the game because of COVID-19, if they have any. Vandy center Grant Miller said it's not altogether new, comparing losing those players to teammates suddenly going down with injuries.

Still, Smarts Bulldogs may lean on their experienced defense in the pandemic-delayed season. Georgia, which is ranked fourth in the country, denied the allegations and said it would share its full response to Reese’s waiver application if he is granted permission. Reese released a statement Tuesday night on Twitter expressing frustration that his waiver had yet to be granted. Reese said he decided to transfer because his 1 1/2 years at Georgia “took a devastating mental toll on me. Another Georgia transfer, offensive lineman Cade Mays, is still awaiting a decision on whether he can play right away for Tennessee.

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___Florida Atlantic postponed its football opener Saturday at Georgia Southern because of a coronavirus outbreak. The school declined to specify how many of the positive tests involved players, coaches or staff. ___Southeastern Conference teams can elect to cancel or reschedule games if they either don’t have 53 scholarship players available or can’t meet some position minimums. They can opt out if they don’t meet certain position minimums for available scholarship players, including seven offensive linemen, with one center, one quarterback and four defensive linemen. A school could opt to play with fewer players or position players available.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. College football this fall remains in limbo, but leaders from the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences are still preparing for fall sports. On Tuesday, the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences postponed fall sports, even after President Donald Trump said that canceling college football would be a tragic mistake. The ACC and SEC, along with the Big 12, remain determined to play this fall. After the announcements from the two conferences suspending fall sports, Sankey said he was interested to hear what went in to those decisions. ACC football will begin on Sept. 10.

(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)President Donald Trump joined a U.S. senator and a number of coaches Monday in the push to save the college football season from a pandemic-forced shutdown. There was speculation that two of the five most powerful conferences the Big Ten and the Pac-12 might call off their seasons. The Virginia school canceled football and other fall sports less than a week after Conference USA set out a plan to play a football season. There are no guarantees that college football will be completely safe thats absolutely true; its always true, he wrote. Please dont cancel college football.___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida completed its regular season opponents list on Friday afternoon as the SEC wrapped up its new-look conference-only schedule. The Gators will travel to Texas A&M and host Arkansas in 2020, the conference announced. The SEC announced last week that it would play a conference-only, 10-game schedule due to COVID-19 safety precautions. "This schedule is a one-year anomaly that we have developed under unique circumstances presented by the impact of COVID-19." Florida had SEC West games on the schedule already against LSU (at home) and then at Mississippi.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday that there needs to be a uniform federal law to regulate the compensation of college athletes instead of a series of state-level versions with differing requirements. Sankey was part of a panel discussing the potential impact of allowing athletes to profit from the use of their name, image or likeness (NIL). It would be difficult and confusing, Sankey said when asked about managing various state laws among the leagues 14 member schools. Knowing the competition within my 11 states, I can foresee quickly the other 10 one-upping each other. Former Miami and NFL player Eric Winston also testified with University of Baltimore law professor Dionne Koller.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. To no ones surprise, SEC Football Media Days will be held virtually this year in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A date for the virtual media days was not announced. We look forward to returning to our traditional media days format in 2021.The ACC is the only Power Five conference that has yet to announce the format for its annual preseason media event. The college football season is scheduled to kick off with six games in its Week 0 lineup on Aug. 29. The pandemic has radically changed sports across the world, but college football has not announced any seismic changes for games at this point.

FILE - In this March 11, 2020, file photo, Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey speaks at a press conference in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)The Power Five conference commissioners are asking Congress to move forward with federal legislation regarding compensation for college athletes. The commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference sent a letter dated May 23 to congressional leaders. Some lawmakers are skeptical of the NCAA's desire to place what it calls guardrails on a compensation model. So, time is of the essence.___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and https://appodcasts.com/category/ap-top-25-college-football/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/APTop25CollegeFootballPoll and https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

There are 130 major college football teams, spread across 41 states and competing in 10 conferences, save for a handful of independents. The Friday announcements are the latest signs that a college football season will be launched in some form this fall. The NCAA updated that ruling Friday by saying voluntary activities would be allowed in all sports starting June 1. Greg Abbott said Friday he thinks college football will return on schedule with at least some spectators. Once we get to college football season, our goal right now is to have college football season start as planned, with fans in stands, Abbott said in an interview with Austin television station KXAN.

The conference announced on Friday that athletes can resume workouts at campuses beginning June 8. Athletes returning to campuses will be staggered and those athletes will be screened for COVID-19. The University of Florida sent out a list of information about reintroducing athletes to campus and workouts. "Our student athlete wellness group has been working for some time with UF Health officials on a plan to integrate our student athletes back on campus. They have developed a gradual phasing program, so that we dont have an influx of a large number of student athletes returning at once, Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said.

The Southeastern Conference was the biggest spender, hiring three lobbying firms and paying them a total of $140,000, according to lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by The Associated Press. The Southeastern Conference was the biggest spender, hiring three lobbying firms and paying them a total of $140,000, according to lobbying disclosure forms reviewed by The Associated Press. The Big Ten paid $20,000 to the firms working for all the Power Five but did not hire its own dedicated lobbyist. The ACC and the Big 12 each spent $60,000 $40,000 on their own lobbyists and $20,000 on the Power Five firms. Both conferences had the same lobbyists last year, the first year either had spent significant money to influence members of Congress.