SEC commissioner tells NCAA how things will run

Commissioner Mike Slive began his annual state-of-the-Southeastern Conference address Monday in Alabama with a shout-out to his wife on their 46th wedding anniversary.

Sweet and sentimental then quickly gave way to calculated and demanding as he laid down an ultimatum: Give the so-called Power Five conferences what they want, pronto.

There was no need to add … "or else."

That is long understood across the quivering major college landscape where, if the Power Five do not get the concessions on autonomy and other issues they desire when the NCAA Division I Board of Directors vote Aug. 7, the SEC and its running mates — the Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Notre Dame — will take their ball and lucrative TV networks and go start their own game.

Or, as Slive put it in commish-speak, "If we do not achieve a positive outcome under the existing big tent of Division I, we will need to consider the establishment of a venue with similar conferences and institutions where we can enact the desired changes in the best interests of our student-athletes."

On a day when the gleaming 24-karat gold, bronze and stainless steel national championship trophy that will be the prize in the new College Football Playoff was unveiled in Texas, Slive’s "historic time for change" doctrine serves as a reminder to the have-nots, including the Mountain West Conference and Hawaii, that they will soon be more marginalized than ever before.

Lest anybody wonder about the MWC’s standing in the college football hierarchy, a USA Today rating of the conferences Monday listed the MWC seventh among 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences.

Once player stipends and other changes mandated by the Power Five are implemented, competition for the sleek new trophy will be even more the preserve of its 65 schools. The competitive divide will grow as wide as the financial one.

The days when the Boise States of the mid-major universe could seriously compete for a national title are numbered, if they still exist at all.

Slive, who turns 74 next week, might resemble somebody’s white-haired, doting grandfather, but he is a powerful captain of industry who does not suffer opposition well or often. His enterprise just happens to be college athletics, where the Power Five has that nickname for a reason.

Mark Emmert is the NCAA president, but make no mistake, it is Slive and the commissioners of the other Power Five, that are calling the significant shots. Emmert dances to the music they provide.

As a warning to anybody, including Emmert, who might summon the temerity to consider getting out of step there is the threat of the Power Five forming their own "Division IV."

"I’m optimistic it (autonomy legislation) will pass," Slive said. "But if it doesn’t, we would have to sit down and consider what venue would be most appropriate for us to accomplish what we set out to accomplish."

Put another way, the rest of Division I football has been tendered an offer it can hardly refuse.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.