SEC Football: Is the SEC and Alabama Looking for Sunday Play If the NFL Strikes?

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

In almost all subjects, if you're looking for what people, businesses or institutions may do, follow the money. That certainly applies to college football as well.

The PAC 12 was the first conference to say that they may consider switching some games to Sunday should the NFL indeed follow through with their strike and lockout.

Why would the PAC 12 consider doing that?

Follow the money.

Television networks will have a lot of time that will be needed to be filled and let's face it, nobody wants more golf, tennis or baseball. Those ratings have seen a decline as it is. Putting more on TV will only water down the viewership that already tunes in.

Fans in the fall want football.

And the PAC 12 commissioner wants viewership for the PAC 10 Network. That's the PAC 12 Network that wasn't scheduled to come into existence until 2012, but Larry Scott, the crafty commissioner of the that conference, is not one to pass up a good opportunity.

Signing a Sunday contract with the networks could help launch an earlier than planned version of the PAC 12 Network and not only bring some big bucks to the conference, but start gaining recognition of the brand of PAC 12 teams that many in the country may not be too familiar with.

Now for the SEC.

Mike Slive, the SEC's win at all costs commissioner, is not the kind of man to sit idly by and let another conference claim Sunday for itself and scoop up all that audience and dollars without putting up a fight.

Slive may not have the clout to make an out of conference school change a playing date, but he can throw dollars at them to do so and he can make the conference to conference games change their dates.

Teams like Alabama can and will always rule Saturdays with their games being covered for most games, but this could allow games that normally won't make the big time, like the games with Kent State, North Texas State and Vanderbilt make a Sunday time slot.

Would Nick Saban welcome such a change?

When it comes to gaining more national exposure for the program, Nick Saban would be all for it. He knows this could only help with national recruiting by being able to point for even more exposure than Alabama gets and it already gets the lions share of exposure in the SEC.

When it came to conference realignment, Slive said the SEC is the premier conference in America and would continue to be so and never be content to take a back seat to any conference.

Will this also apply to getting a share of the possible Sunday market should the NFL carry out the threat of a strike?

Knowing Mike Slive, I wouldn't be against it.

And I might not bet against another conference looking into it right now either.