SEC stands pat on 20-hour rule; stadium replay reviews to change

The SEC’s football coaches and athletics directors discussed the NCAA’s 20-hour rule this week, but seem to feel comfortable making no changes to the longstanding rule that addresses how much time college athletes spend on their sports.

“I don’t know that we need to adjust much, in my opinion,” Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said. “I do feel like it’s important for players to get away. I want them to be able to get away and decompress from us and from football. I think that’s really important, and I do think we give them enough room.”

USC president Harris Pastides said before the conference’s annual spring meetings that changes to the rule would be considered in order to assure college athletes have enough time to properly handle their academics.

“We give them a day off during the season. We count three hours for game day, so really it’s a 17-hour rule,” Muschamp said. “I feel like we are very understanding academically. I have never run across a situation where a young man couldn’t be a part of a tutoring session or a class because of practice.”

The Big Reveal

The SEC has traditionally released its annual revenue figures on the final day of its spring meetings, but the league changed its policy this year. The conference will now release revenue figures in October so that all figures are final, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said.

“We have new and different revenue streams, and obviously our revenues continue to increase,” he said. “Rather than announce now and then there’s another set of articles when our (tax) form is released, we thought we’d just wait.”

Last year, the conference announced at this event that it would distribute $436.8 million in total revenue (or $31.2 million per school with one share going back to the conference office). The SEC later reported more than $500 million in revenue via its tax returns. The revenues for fiscal year 2015 are expected to once again set a record.

Hoops Hysteria

Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari suggested this week holding the conference basketball tournament in November as a way to garner more interest. Sankey responded Friday.

“I love creative thinkers because they make other people think. He’s a creative thinker in case we haven’t noticed,” Sankey said.

The conference won’t consider that suggestion, but is open to moving the SEC Tournament final from a Sunday to a Saturday to better accommodate the NCAA Selection Committee, Sankey said. That move would take some time to enact because of all the contracts involved.

Replay Reviews

The SEC updated its rules to allow fans inside its football stadiums to see the same replays being watched by replay officials on protested calls. Previously, the league limited those replays in stadiums in order to limit controversy. The SEC hasn’t determined if it will set a limit on how many times those replays are shown in the stadium.

Continuing Conversation

LSU athletics director Joe Aleva is pushing the conference to allow alcohol sales in the public areas of its sporting venues, but the league made no changes to its rules this week.

“I don’t think we’re divided at all,” Sankey said. “I think there are different perspectives.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 7:29 PM with the headline "SEC stands pat on 20-hour rule; stadium replay reviews to change."