ATLANTA — SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has taken meetings with private-equity firms interested in pumping money into the conference, he said Monday. Still, for now, the league is not ready to make the leap.

“I’ve had those meetings. I’ve had outreach on a continuing basis,” Sankey said when asked about PE by Front Office Sports during his opening remarks at his SEC media days press conference. “They bubble up from time to time. The question: What problem are you trying to solve, and what’s the substance of the solution? What’s the downside? What if you don’t achieve all of those mile markers?”

Sankey said he had a conversation about outside financing ideas with some SEC leaders late last week. “We have been probably two and a half, three years into visits with banks, with private equity, with venture capital,” he said. “I mean, you could go down the range. Private capital, that’s another phrase that’s been used. That’s not been the right direction for us. We’ve not seen the concept that works.”

SEC Not Closing Any Doors

But despite the hesitancy to take PE money, Sankey said the SEC will stay open-minded. “That doesn’t mean we won’t consider opportunities,” he said. “If there are opportunities for mutual benefit, those would pique our interest. But the notion of just jumping to something because there’s a pot of money there seems [like] an uninformed direction.”

Sankey’s hesitancy comes around the potential dark side of taking PE money: “Some of these proposals, you always see the most positive outcome, and when you ask, well, like what’s the downside? What if you don’t hit all of those mile markers? What then happens? There’s not a lot of answers provided,” he said.

Around the Nation

Sankey’s remarks about PE come after Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark in May told FOS that his conference had paused its efforts to bring on a capital partner. “We’re not ready to go in that direction, but we know what the options are out there,” Yormark said.

In June, sports business consultancy Elevate launched a $500 million initiative aimed at bringing institutional capital directly into college sports. Meanwhile, Boise State is “actively considering” bringing PE investment into the Broncos’ athletic department, AD Jeramiah Dickey told FOS last month.

ATLANTA — SEC commissioner Greg Sankey won’t commit to supporting a specific new format for an expanded College Football Playoff, but it’s clear he’s not in line with the preferred idea from his Big Ten counterpart, Tony Petitti.

“The Big Ten has a different view—that’s fine,” Sankey said Monday at SEC media days. “We have a 12-team Playoff, five conference champions. That could stay if we can’t agree.”

Should the CFP expand to 16 teams in 2026, as many expect, Petitti has been pushing a new format that would award four automatic bids to both the Big Ten and SEC. Last week, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said he was “doubling down” on his separate push for a 5+11 model that would give the five highest-ranked conference champions automatic bids, and include 11 at-large spots.

Sankey appears to be favoring the Big 12’s proposal—for now, at least. “Unless people want to tear it up, we’re going to have 5 plus 7, 5 plus 9, 5 plus 11,” he said, in reference to a potential 12-, 14-, or 16-team CFP. Sankey added, “I think we have the best hand to play.”

Next week, the Big Ten and ACC will hold their media days. Petitti is expected to continue backing his proposed CFP format, and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is expected to back the Big 12’s. 

“There’s this notion that there has to be this magic moment and something has to happen with expansion and it has to be forced—no,” Sankey said. “I think, when you’re given authority, you want to be responsible in using that authority. I think both of us are prepared to do so.”

There is a Dec. 1 deadline for the CFP to decide on expanding in 2026 and what a new format would look like.

ATLANTA — Dingers should be flying at steamy Truist Park for Monday night’s MLB Home Run Derby, and the dollars could particularly flow for three younger competitors. 

A $1 million top prize is once again up for grabs in the competition, and for three of the eight players in the derby—the Rays’ Junior Caminero ($764,100), the Pirates’ Oneil Cruz ($785,000), and the Nationals’ James Wood ($764,600)—that figure is more than they’ll earn all season. Each is not yet eligible for arbitration or free agency.  

Such has been the case with this event since 2019, when the league and MLB Players Association created the prize pool, in part as an incentive to attract top talent. Instead of drawing top star veterans such as the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, though, the Home Run Derby has become something of a young man’s competition.

While 2024 champion Teoscar Hernández prevailed in his ninth MLB season, prior winners such as Pete Alonso, Juan Soto, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. claimed the top check before much bigger salary dollars arrived. 

The trio of younger players will compete in the 2025 derby against five more established players: the Twins’ Byron Buxton, Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr., Braves’ Matt Olson, Mariners’ Cal Raleigh, and Brent Rooker of the A’s. Raleigh, in the midst of a breakout season and leading the majors with 38 home runs, is a slight betting favorite in the Derby, followed by Cruz. 

The hot and humid environment at the outdoor Truist Park, with temperatures expected to still be near 90 degrees when the event starts at 8 p.m. ET, provides a setting that has not been seen in several years for the Home Run Derby. Last year’s event was held indoors at Globe Life Field in Texas, and the three years before that featured more temperate conditions in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Denver, respectively. 

In addition to the $1 million prize for the derby winner, another $100,000 is available for the hitter with the longest home run. The runner-up wins $500,000, and the other six participants will each get $150,000.

Wood, for his part, said he has no life-altering plans if he wins the Derby.

“I might go to Waffle House,” Wood tells Front Office Sports, referring to the popular restaurant chain.

View From Above

ESPN, meanwhile, plans to incorporate a pair of golf-type drone cameras into its coverage of the derby Monday night, both in the main broadcast and an alternate, Statcast-driven one on ESPN2. Such an element was not possible with the domed ballpark in Texas last year, but it is aimed at providing enhanced views of ball flight. Overhead views such as this have become a staple of golf coverage across multiple networks. Drone cameras last year were only able to fly outside Globe Life Field. 

The network will also be looking to regain some viewership momentum, as last year’s viewership of 5.45 million fell 11% from 2023, and was impaired by competing coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention. ESPN will also have a live production of The Pat McAfee Show on Monday from The Battery mixed-use development that surrounds Truist Park.

“This obviously is one of our most-viewed events of the entire year,” ESPN SVP of sports production Mark Gross tells FOS regarding the Derby. “Our job is to document the event in every way that we can, and we think these drones will be a big enhancement to seeing the flight paths of the home runs and will aid our storytelling.”