SEC commissioner Greg Sankey told ESPN that he will watch the other Power 5 conferences “with interest” regarding their upcoming decisions on whether to play football this fall, but his focus is on his own conference.
“We believe we set a responsible plan,” he said Tuesday. “We have delayed our kickoff to Sept. 26, which is more than three weeks after all of our universities will be open for classes. Our responsibility is to make sure our campuses can open in the best way possible, and it was a wise decision to slow down the start of the season, and we’ve adjusted preseason practice and done that in a way I don’t think anyone else has.
“We’ve got people in pads and helmets at this point. We’ve been on a slow build since June 8, and I think that’s been very responsible and is at the center of supporting the health of our student-athletes in the right way. That decision-making has been and will continue to be our focus.
“The decisions of others are information points for us,” he said, “but not determinative for us.”
Sankey said the SEC presidents met on Monday for an “informational conversation” and that the league remains in the same place it was Friday. When asked if the presidents were meeting again on Thursday, he said, “We’ll let each day take care of itself right now.”