It’s no secret that the last half decade has produced a seemingly endless stream of nonsense in college sports and an inability to pass any sort of legislation to get a handle on things.

Because of this, a popular talking point — however inconceivable it may seem — has been self-governance from conferences, with some even discussing whether or not the SEC could break away from the rest of the country and compete for championships among themselves.

At day one of SEC Media Days in Tampa this week, commissioner Greg Sankey confirmed that while it’s not an ideal situation for anyone, those discussions have indeed been had at the highest level as solution talks continue.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey on if there have been talks about the conference breaking away from the NCAA if national legislation can’t get passed:

“They’re real. People have talked about that.” pic.twitter.com/yLSXq4OAak

— 𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕤 𝕃. 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕨𝕟 (@Travis_L_Brown) July 20, 2026

“You phrased the question of how real [the talks are], so I’ll take that as real or not real. They’re real. People have talked about that,” Sankey said when asked if the rumors are real. “The frustrations (for some) that bring them to the point of saying we should look at something significantly different. I do not believe that is a leverage point. I think that’s just honest communication…what I think is important is those comments represent a high level of frustration for the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”

It should be noted that Sankey clarified that this is not the preference of the SEC and that nobody really wants something like this to happen. This is simply the state of things in college athletics as of now, and if rules can’t be enforced, the argument of enforcing rules on your own has to be intriguing.

The most ideal situation for everyone continues would be finding something that works for all of the NCAA, but the fight to get that done gets more and more difficult with each passing day.