SEC Commissioner Mike Slive yesterday said he believes the NCAA is the “appropriate national organization for collegiate athletics,” but reiterated that he thinks the time has come for change in its governance. “I’m a strong believer that we need to make some structural changes … to meet the needs of the 21st century,” Slive said. “The structure is still grounded in 30 or 40 years ago even though it’s evolved.” He added, “The goal here is to make sure -- the idea of just restructuring is like moving chairs around -- restructuring has to be tied to a vision. A vision for the 21st century.” Meanwhile, Slive said he would prefer to keep all conferences under one umbrella. “We certainly have no interest in changing -- we want to be in what we call the ‘big tent’ -- there’s been a lot of talk about division four. We would prefer not to do that. We would prefer for all of us to stay in the big tent together. Have the basketball tournament stay the same, the revenue distribution remain the same. That we work in many areas where there’s shared governance" (Josh Carpenter, Staff Writer).
A NEW DESTINATION: In Charlotte, David Scott writes with the SEC entering a six-year agreement with Bank of America Stadium’s Belk Bowl starting next season and the new SEC Network starting in '14 out of ESPN’s studios, the city "will become a regular destination for league officials and fans." Slive said, "Once the smoke cleared (with recent conference realignment) and we were comfortable with 14 schools, we looked to how we could have a presence in North Carolina. The quality of the Belk Bowl gave us a good opportunity. And developing the SEC Network is so important to us" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 11/5).
