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Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, whose work to add Texas and Oklahoma to the 14-team league will come to fruition in 2024, has received a contract extension through 2028.
The SEC announced the extension Thursday — four days before the conference holds its annual football media days event in Nashville.
Sankey, 58, has been in his role since 2015. The New York native held several roles in the conference prior to being elevated to commissioner.
According to tax filings obtained by Pro Publica, Sankey earned $3.7 million in 2022.
“I am grateful for the continued opportunity to serve and support the universities and student-athletes of the Southeastern Conference and I appreciate the confidence placed in me by the SEC’s presidents and chancellors,” Sankey said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the leaders of our member universities as we meet the challenges ahead for college athletics, seek to sustain the success of our conference and fulfill our mission to provide our young people with the opportunity to grow academically and challenge themselves through elite competition.”
In a statement, University of Georgia president Jere W. Morehead called Sankey a “visionary” who has overseen “the nation’s most stable and successful athletic conference.”
Nationally, Sankey was involved in the College Football Playoff expansion and serves as co-chair of the NCAA’s transformation committee.
“During a time of great change in college athletics, Greg Sankey has been a positive force for advancing the SEC and a thought-leader across the national landscape,” said University of Alabama president Stuart Bell, who became president of the SEC this month. “The presidents, chancellors and athletic directors of our institutions hold him in great regard — respect which he has earned through his years of excellent service. I appreciate his proactive and collaborative approach to leadership and look forward to working with him for many years to come.”
The SEC has fielded the last four winners of both the College Football Playoff (LSU, Alabama and Georgia twice) and the Men’s College World Series (LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt).
The SEC also has won back-to-back NCAA women’s basketball championships thanks to South Carolina and LSU.