/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69663331/usa_today_16423951.0.jpg)
The addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC will mean many things.
Gained prestige
A bigger footprint
New fanbases
The Red River Rivalry is likely not being in late-morning hours.
...these are just a handful of what it’ll mean.
But there’s another layer that should come into play.
The SEC Baseball Tournament, a mainstay each May in Hoover, could be on the move way to west in Oklahoma City. The tourney may or may not be on the move, but the fact remains. At some point, a few bones will have to be thrown toward the Oklahoma and Texas demographic markets. If there was ever a time to move the SEC title game around when it comes to football, why not now? Greg Sankey would be crazy not to entertain having it at Jerry’s World.
But the newly-branded SEC should go beyond where championships are hosted.
Once and for all, the SEC office needs to get the heck out of Birmingham.
Other than the fact that the conference headquarters has always been there. there has been no logical reason for a conference such as the SEC to be in a mid-sized market. That’s no slight on Birmingham itself. But when you think of the South’s most trendy places, Atlanta, Nashville, and New Orleans come to mind.
Atlanta has the United, Braves, Hawks, and Falcons. New Orleans has the NBA and NFL, as does Nashville while all four major sports call DFW home.
Birmingham has...among other things...the Birmingham Barons of minor league baseball and the Birmingham Bulls of the SPHL minor league hockey organization. Minor league sports are great and all, but it’s not the major leagues. The SEC should call a major-league city home, and in 2021, Birmingham is not that.
And now with the Dallas market being within the footprint, there’s no reason not to consider moving the SEC offices there, too.
That is, unless, the league wants to continue giving anti-Alabama conspiracy theorists red meat to chase around.
Go Dawgs!