SEC Media Days Another Reason This Is The America’s Top Conference
It’s mid-July and most of America is thinking of beaches, vacations, summer festivals and getting out of the heat.
In the Southeastern Conference, they are thinking college football.
The SEC Media Days are underway, July 11-14, from a hotel in Birmingham. It’s four days of press conferences to talk about the upcoming season held for the national media.
The SEC is so media-friendly for this event that pretty much anyone with even the smallest blog can get a credential.
It’s televised live on ESPN’s SEC Network.
It’s often called a “circus” because in addition to hundreds of press (legitimate and otherwise) rabid fans – particularly from Alabama – show up by the thousands in the lobby as if for a pre-game pep rally.
SEC Media Days have become such a success that other conferences now do the same, but they always follow on the heels of the SEC.
That’s the way it seems to be in college football: the SEC does something and the other conferences follow the lead. After all, which conference was the first to expand and break into two divisions, then hold a championship game? Which was the first to pay head coaches several million dollars and assistant coaches hundreds of thousands or even a couple million?
And to upgrade stadiums and facilities to ridiculous levels? (Okay, Oregon probably leads in the ridiculous facilities category.)
The SEC understands PR and SEC Media Days is outstanding PR, actually creating news when there is none at a time when most of America is thinking about going to the beach.
SEC Media Days gets its fans thinking about college football (and watching the SEC Network plus buying tickets and merchandise), gets other conferences and other fans thinking college football and gets the media talking about college football in the middle of July.
It’s brilliant.
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