The Commissioner of the SEC is such a great job that some folks just can’t quit, even when they reach 73 years old. At least not when there is so much going on.
SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said recently that ‘there is too much to do to consider stepping away’. So Slive is not retiring just yet. His contract is set to expire at the end of the 2014 season and he will not commit to staying on the job past that point but for now Mr. Slive is sticking with it.
Of course the big event that is keeping him on the job is the upcoming inauguration of the long awaited SEC Network which is set to debut in August. After all of the hard work that Mike Slive and his associates have put in to make the SEC Network a reality, no one was really expecting him to quit at this point anyway.
Slive told the press, “I’ve got too much going on. I’ve got the SEC Network to work on. I’ve got football scheduling to solve. We’ve got the NCAA restructuring. We’ve got a lot of important issues to take care of. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
And the SEC Commissioner also has the backing of most of the University presidents, several of whom have spoken out in favor of Slive staying on until he is ready to go out under his own terms.
Mike Slive has been the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference since 2002 after serving as commissioner of Conference USA from 1995-2002. Under his leadership the conference has seen unprecedented expansion by adding the Universities of Missouri and Texas A&M to their list of teams. He has also been very active in the negotiation of media rights deals that have inflated the revenue of each of the participating schools.
Slive was also one of the first proponents of the playoff style format which would determine the college football national championship for the NCAA. He served on the coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for the 2006 & 2007 seasons and has help to shape the direction of modern college athletics today.
Under his leadership the SEC has grown to be one of the wealthiest conferences in the country already. When the SEC Network takes off, those revenues are expected to skyrocket upward.
Mr. Slive, who is now 73 years old, recently told reporters, “I’ll be here as long as you see me. I’ll be working until I’m not working.”
