College sports, college football especially, are in a new era of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) as well as new NCAA regulations involving the player transfer portal.
Two of the biggest conferences in college athletics are taking steps to tackle the emerging new challenges across the sport.
The Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference announced on Friday afternoon the formation of a “joint advisory group of university presidents, chancellors, and athletics directors to address the significant challenges facing college athletics and the opportunities for betterment of the student-athlete experience,” per a press release from the SEC.
Earlier this week, it came out that the Tennessee football program was under NCAA investigation for violation of NIL rules, and the State of Tennessee responded with a lawsuit of the NCAA, alleging that the organziation “violated antitrust laws.”
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In the wake of this news, which is just the latest in a series of issues involving NIL, the two conferences are teaming up to “take a leadership role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke on the advisory group formation.
“There are similar cultural and social impacts on our student-athletes, our institutions, and our communities because of the new collegiate athletics environment. 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,” Sankey said
The exact role of the advisory board is yet to be determined other than serving as a consulting body at this point.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP
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