The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members include the flagship public universities of 12 states, three additional public land-grant universities, and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions. In football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A. The SEC was established in 1932 by 13 members of the Southern Conference. Three charter members left by the late 1960s, but additions in 1990 and 2012 grew the conference to 14 member institutions. The conference expanded to 16 members with the addition of the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas in 2024. In 1992, the SEC was the first NCAA Division I conference to have a championship game for football and was one of the founding member conferences of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS). The conference sponsors team championships in nine men's sports and 13 women's sports. The conference distributed $721.8 million to its 14 schools in 2022.

Member universities

Current members

The SEC consists of 16 member institutions located in the U.S. states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. The SEC was formerly divided into East and West Divisions, although the divisional alignment was not strictly geographic, with Missouri in the East Division while being farther west than several West Division schools, and Auburn in the West Division despite being located farther east than East Division schools Missouri and Vanderbilt. These divisional groupings were applied only in football, baseball, and women's soccer, for both scheduling and standings purposes. In football, the two division winners met in the SEC Championship Game. The SEC eliminated its baseball and football divisions once Oklahoma and Texas joined in 2024.

Membership map

Former members

Three schools have left the SEC, all charter members:

History

Founding

The SEC was established December 8 and 9, 1932, in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Farragut Hotel, when the thirteen members of the large Southern Conference located west and south of the Appalachian Mountains left to form their own conference. Ten of the thirteen founding members have remained in the conference since its inception: the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University ("LSU"), the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), Mississippi State University, the University of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University ("Vandy"). The SEC had no formal headquarters during its first eight years of existence, but in 1940, former Governor of Mississippi Martin "Mike" Conner was named the conference's first president, with the league establishing its first corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of the Standard Life Building in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The SEC office remained there until 1948, when it moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where it remains. The three founding members that have since left the conference are Sewanee, who left after the 1940 season to drop all athletic scholarships and become a D-III Independent; Georgia Tech, who left after the 1963 season and became a D-I Independent; and Tulane, who left after the 1965 season and became a D-I Independent. In 1935, the SEC became the first conference to legalize athletic scholarships.

Racial integration

White southerners committed to maintaining segregation created controversy preceding the 1956 Sugar Bowl, when the Pitt Panthers, with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on the roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. White southern segregationists created controversy by claiming that Grier should be barred from the game due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected the request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. The 1959 Mississippi State men's basketball team, led by all-American Bailey Howell, finished its season 24–1, winning the conference title. They did not participate in the NCAA tournament as school and state officials would not permit the team to play against Black players from northern schools. Four years later, in 1963, Loyola, with four black starters, played Mississippi State in the "Game of Change". It was not until 1966 that African Americans first participated in an SEC athletic contest, and the first black scholarship athletes did not play in the SEC until the 1967–68 school year. The first African American to compete in the SEC was Stephen Martin, who walked on to the Tulane baseball team in that school's final SEC season of 1966. In August of that same year, Kentucky enrolled Nate Northington and Greg Page on football scholarships, and Vanderbilt enrolled Godfrey Dillard and Perry Wallace on basketball scholarships. At the time, the NCAA did not allow freshmen to compete on varsity teams, which meant that these pioneers could not play until 1967. Page died from complications of a spinal cord injury suffered during a football practice before ever playing a game, while Dillard suffered a career-altering injury before getting a chance to play for Vanderbilt's varsity and transferred to Eastern Michigan. The remaining two both played in the 1967–68 school year. Northington made his overall debut against Indiana on September 23, 1967 and his SEC debut against Ole Miss the following week on September 30 (the day after Page's death ), while Wallace made his varsity debut later that year.

1990 expansion

In 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season. At the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. The Western Division comprised six of the seven member schools in the Central Time Zone, while the Eastern Division comprised the five member schools in the Eastern Time Zone plus Vanderbilt, which is in the Central Time Zone but was placed in the Eastern Division to preserve its rivalry with Tennessee. Initially, the divisional format was used in football, baseball, and men's basketball. The divisional format was dropped for men's basketball following the 2011–2012 season. Following expansion, the SEC was the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual football championship game that did not count against NCAA limits on regular-season contests, featuring the winners of the conference's Eastern and Western divisions. The 1992 and 1993 championship games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, and all championship games from 1994 onward have been held in Atlanta—first at the Georgia Dome until its closure and demolition after the 2016 season, and since 2017 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

2012 expansion

On September 25, 2011, the SEC Presidents and Chancellors, acting unanimously, announced that Texas A&M University would join the SEC effective July 1, 2012, to begin competition in nineteen of the twenty sports sponsored by the SEC during the 2012–13 academic year. On November 6, 2011, the SEC commissioner announced that the University of Missouri would also join the SEC on July 1, 2012. For football, Texas A&M was scheduled to compete in the Western Division, and Missouri in the Eastern Division. Texas A&M and Missouri both left the Big 12 Conference.

2024 expansion

On July 27, 2021, Oklahoma and Texas formally notified the SEC they were seeking "an invitation for membership". In a joint letter, Texas president Jay Hartzell and Oklahoma president Joseph Harroz Jr. wrote, "We believe that there would be mutual benefit to the Universities on the one hand, and the SEC on the other hand, for the Universities to become members of the SEC." On July 29, 2021, the presidents of the current 14 schools of the SEC voted unanimously to extend an offer of admission to Oklahoma and Texas. The boards of regents for both institutions on July 30, 2021, accepted conference membership, and the schools were tentatively scheduled to join the league in 2025. On February 9, 2023, the Big 12, Texas, and Oklahoma announced they had reached a buyout agreement that allowed the schools to join the SEC in 2024. The Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners athletic teams thus began league play during the 2024–25 academic year.

Membership timeline

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Commissioners

The office of Commissioner was created in 1940.

SEC Academic Network

In 2005, the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference formed the SEC Academic Consortium (SECAC), a collaborative endeavor designed to promote research, scholarship, and achievement amongst the universities. In 2011, the SEC Academic Consortium was relocated to the SEC headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, from its original home on the campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and was renamed SECU. The SECU rebranded its mission to better serve as a means through which the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of Southeastern Conference universities would be promoted and advanced. The SECU's goals included highlighting the endeavors and achievements of SEC faculty, students, and its universities; advancing the academic reputation of SEC universities; identifying and preparing future leaders for high-level service in academia; increasing the amount and type of study abroad opportunities available for students; and providing opportunities for collaboration among SEC university personnel. The Big Ten Conference, since 1958, has had a similar program, now called the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The SEC Symposium component of SECU was crafted by Vanderbilt University Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos, who at the time was the Vice President of the SEC Executive Committee and liaison to SECU. In an interview with Dr. Zeppos about the formation of the SECU he noted, "that the member institutions of the Southeastern Conference are committed to a shared mission of fostering research, scholarship, and achievement. The SEC Symposium represents a platform to connect, collaborate and promote a productive dialogue that will span disciplinary and institutional boundaries and allow us to work together for the betterment of society." The SEC Academic Network was created in 2009 in partnership with ESPN. The SEC Academic Network was an online library of institutionally produced videos featuring academic initiatives and stories from all Southeastern Conference institutions. The SEC Academic Network was officially merged into the SECU operation.

Academics

The following table shows National University rank by U.S. News & World Report as of 2023. Also indicated is membership in the Association of American Universities.

Athletic department revenue by school

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights and licensing, student fees, school funds and all other sources including TV income, camp income, concessions, and novelties. Total expenses includes coach and staff salaries, scholarships, buildings and grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance. The following table shows institutional reporting to the United States Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2021–22 academic year. The following table shows revenue specifically from NCAA / Conference Distributions, Media Rights, and Post-Season Football reported by the Knight Commission for the 2021–22 academic year.

Key personnel

Facilities

Apparel

Sports

The Southeastern Conference sponsors championship competition in nine men's and thirteen women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Under SEC conference rules reflecting the large number of male scholarship participants in football and attempting to address gender equity concerns (see also Title IX), each member institution is required to provide two more women's varsity sports than men's. A similar rule was recently adopted by the NCAA for all of DivisionI.

Men's sponsored sports by school

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools:

Women's sponsored sports by school

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by the Southeastern Conference which are played by SEC schools:

Current champions

Source: SECSports.com.

Football

For the current season, see 2024 Southeastern Conference football season.

Scheduling

SEC teams did not play a uniform number of conference games until 1974. Prior to that, the number of conference games teams played ranged from four to eight, but most played a 6- or 7- game schedule. The league adopted a uniform 6-game schedule from 1974 to 1987, and added a seventh conference game from 1988 to 1991. Through this period and through the earlier years each SEC school had five permanent opponents, developing some traditional rivalries between schools, and the other games rotated around the other members of the conference. After expansion to twelve programs in 1992, the SEC went to an 8-game conference schedule, with each team playing the five other teams in their division and three opponents from the other division. The winners of the two divisions would then meet in the SEC Championship Game. From 1992 through 2002, each team had two permanent inter-divisional opponents, allowing many traditional rivalries from the pre-expansion era (such as Florida vs. Auburn, Kentucky vs. LSU, and Vanderbilt vs. Alabama) to continue. However, complaints from some league athletic directors about imbalance in the schedule (for instance, Auburn's two permanent opponents from the East were Florida and Georgia – two of the SEC's stronger football programs at the time – while Mississippi State played Kentucky and South Carolina every year) led to the SEC reducing the number of permanent inter-division opponents to one starting in the 2003 season. The TV networks televising SEC games were also pressuring for the change so attractive match-ups between non-traditional opponents would happen twice every five years instead of twice every eight years. With the subsequent expansion to 14 members in 2012, non-permanent cross-division opponents face each other in the regular season twice in a span of twelve years. Under the format used from 2012 to 2023, each school played a total of eight conference games, consisting of the other six teams in its division, one school from the other division on a rotating basis, and one school from the other division that it plays each year. The permanent cross-division matchups were: Alabama–Tennessee; Arkansas–Missouri; Auburn–Georgia; LSU–Florida; Mississippi State–Kentucky; Ole Miss–Vanderbilt; Texas A&M–South Carolina. The then-current scheduling arrangement was originally set to expire after the 2015 season, but the SEC presidents voted 10–4 in April 2014 to keep the current format for an additional six to eight seasons beyond 2015. Additionally, since 2016, SEC teams have been required to schedule at least one opponent each season from the other so-called "Power Five" conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, or Pac-12); games against select football independent schools also qualify, including Army (which no longer counts as of 2024 due to it joining the American Athletic Conference, a Group of Five conference), BYU (before it joined the Big 12 in 2023), and Notre Dame. In 2023, the SEC announced the divisional split would be scrapped when Oklahoma and Texas join in 2024. The conference schedule will remain at 8 games in the 2024 and 2025 seasons while the SEC determines its long-term football scheduling format. Teams will play the same opponents in both seasons on a home-and-home basis. Each of the 14 members in the conference in 2023 will play either Oklahoma or Texas in 2024 and '25, but not both. Whether the conference schedule stays at 8 games or expands to 9 after 2025, each team will be guaranteed of playing all other conference teams home and away in a four-year cycle. The requirement of scheduling at least one Power Four (the Pac-12 lost all but two of its members, Oregon State and Washington State, before the 2024 season; the Beavers have meetings with Ole Miss scheduled in 2027 and 2030, while the Cougars are slated to face Mississippi State in 2030 and '31) team or Notre Dame remains in place. The championship game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings, with tiebreakers as needed.

All-time school records (ranked according to winning percentage)

Through end of the 2023 season including SEC Championship Game. Records reflect official NCAA results, including any forfeits or win vacating. Notes:

Championship game

From its establishment in 1992 through 2023, the SEC Championship Game pitted the SEC West Division representative against the East Division representative in a game held after the regular season has been completed. Starting in 2024, when the SEC eliminates its football divisions, the game will feature the top two teams in the conference standings. The first two SEC Championship football games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Since 1994, it has been played in Atlanta—first at the Georgia Dome through 2016, and since 2017 at its replacement, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, with the current hosting contract running through 2027. The "home team" designation alternated between the division champions during the divisional era, going to the East champion in even-numbered years and the West champion in odd-numbered years. The West led 19-13 in overall wins in the championship game against the East during the divisional era. As of 2023, the only pre-2024 members without a Championship Game appearance are Kentucky, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt.

Bowl games

The post-season bowl game tie-ins for the SEC for the 2014–2019 seasons are: Payout is per team for the 2014 season; if different for opposing conference, payout for the SEC team is shown. Each conference member, irrespective of bowl participation, also receives an equal split of a payout to the SEC conference. ^ The Sugar Bowl is contractually obligated to select the SEC champion if that team is not participating in the College Football Playoff. In years where the champion is unavailable the Playoff Committee will assign another SEC team to participate in the Sugar. Alternatively, in years where the Sugar hosts a playoff game the SEC Champion will be sent to the Fiesta, Cotton, or Peach Bowl if not selected for the playoff. † The Big Ten and SEC will be eligible to face the ACC representative in the Orange Bowl at least three out of the eight seasons that it does not host a semifinal for the Playoff over a 12-year span. Notre Dame may be chosen the other two years if eligible. ° In years when the Big Ten places a team in the Orange Bowl, the Citrus Bowl will select from ACC teams remaining after the Playoff Committee and Orange Bowl make their selections. ‡ The Big Ten and ACC will switch between the Music City and Gator bowls on alternating years. ¤ For the 2020 through 2025 seasons, the Big Ten and SEC will alternate which conference sends a team to the Duke's Mayo Bowl or the Las Vegas Bowl. SEC will be in the Las Vegas Bowl during the even years and Duke's Mayo Bowl during the odd years.

Head coach compensation

The total pay of head coaches includes university and non-university compensation including base salary, income from contracts, foundation supplements, bonuses and media and radio pay as of the most recent 2023 season. As a private institution, Vanderbilt is not obligated to disclose salary information.

Player awards

Each year, the conference selects various individual awards. In 1994, the conference began honoring former players from each school annually with the SEC Football Legends program.

50th anniversary All-Time SEC Team

In 1982, the SEC Skywriters, a group of media covering the Southeastern Conference, selected members of their All-Time SEC Team for the first fifty years (1933–82) of the SEC. Coach: Paul "Bear" Bryant Offense QB Archie Manning, Ole Miss 1968–70 HB Charley Trippi, Georgia 1942,45–46 HB Billy Cannon, LSU 1957–59 HB Herschel Walker, Georgia 1980–82 WR Don Hutson, Alabama 1932–34 WR Terry Beasley, Auburn 1969–71 TE Ozzie Newsome, Alabama 1974–77 OL John Hannah, Alabama 1970–72 OL Bruiser Kinard, Ole Miss 1935–37 OC Dwight Stephenson, Alabama 1977–79 OL Bob Suffridge, Tennessee 1938–40 OL Billy Neighbors, Alabama 1959–61 PK Fuad Reveiz, Tennessee 1981–84 ** Defense** DL Doug Atkins, Tennessee 1950–52 DL Bill Stanfill, Georgia 1966–68 DL Jack Youngblood, Florida 1968–70 DL Lou Michaels, Kentucky 1955–57 DL Gaynell Tinsley, LSU 1934–36 LB Lee Roy Jordan, Alabama 1960–62 LB Jack Reynolds, Tennessee 1967–69 LB D. D. Lewis, Miss. State 1965–67 DB Tucker Frederickson, Auburn 1962–64 DB Jake Scott, Georgia 1967–68 DB Tommy Casanova, LSU 1969–71 DB Don McNeal, Alabama 1977–79 DB Jimmy Patton, Ole Miss 1953–55 P Craig Colquitt, Tennessee 1975–77

Intra-conference football rivalries

The members of the SEC have longstanding rivalries with each other, especially on the football field. The following is a list of active rivalries in the Southeastern Conference with totals & records through the completion of the 2023 season.

Interconference football rivalries

Men's basketball

For the most recent season, see 2024–25 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season. Since the 2012–13 season, SEC teams have played an 18-game conference schedule, which includes two games (home and away) against each of three permanent rivals and single games against the remaining ten teams in the conference. Men's basketball formerly used the East/West divisional alignment for regular-season scheduling and seeding the conference tournament, but it no longer does. Before expansion to 14 teams, the conference schedule was 16 games. Although the divisions were eliminated beginning with the 2011–12 season, that season's schedule was still set according to the divisional alignments, with each team facing each team from its own division twice and each team from the opposite division once. As part of the proposal by SEC head coaches that led to the scrapping of the divisional structure, a task force of four coaches and four athletic directors was set to discuss future conference scheduling. At that time, options included a revamped 16-game schedule, an 18-game schedule, or a full double round-robin of 22 conference games. However, these discussions came before Texas A&M and Missouri were announced in late 2011 as incoming members for the 2012–13 season, which required a format that could support 14 teams rather than twelve. At the 2012 SEC spring meetings, league athletic directors adopted an 18-game conference schedule. Each school had one permanent opponent that it played home and away every season, and faced four other opponents in a home-and-home series during a given season, and then the remaining teams one each (four home, four away). The permanent opponents were Alabama–Auburn, Arkansas–Missouri, Florida–Kentucky, Georgia–South Carolina, LSU–Texas A&M, Ole Miss–Mississippi State, and Tennessee–Vanderbilt. The home-and-home opponents, apart from the permanent opponent, rotated each season. The 2014 SEC spring meetings saw a further change to the scheduling format. While the athletic directors voted to stay with an 18-game conference schedule, they increased the number of permanent opponents for each school from one to three. Each school retained its permanent opponent from the 2012–2014 period while adding two others. From 1966 to 1967, following Tulane's departure, through 1990–91, the year prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina, teams played a double round-robin, 18-game conference schedule. No team was undefeated in this period, though three teams went 17–1 (Kentucky in 1970 and 1986, LSU in 1981). During the period from 1992 to 2012 when the league slate was 16 games, Kentucky went undefeated in SEC play in 1996, 2003, and 2012 (although only the 2003 team went on to win the conference tournament). Since the return to an 18-game conference schedule following the 2012 conference expansion, two teams have gone undefeated in SEC play: Florida in 2013–14 and Kentucky in 2014–15. The scheduling format will change again with the arrival of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024. The conference schedule will remain at 18 games, but each team will play three opponents home and away—two permanent and one rotating. The remaining 12 games will be single games against all other conference members, evenly divided between home and away games.

Scheduling partners

The table below lists each school's permanent men's basketball-only scheduling partners from 2014–15 through 2023–24.

Basketball tournament

The SEC men's basketball tournament (also known simply as the SEC tournament) is the competition that determines the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Notably, it does not determine the SEC conference champion in men's basketball—the conference has awarded its championship to the team(s) with the best regular-season record since the 1950–51 season. It is a single-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. With the expansion to 14 members in 2012, the 2013 tournament was the first with a new format covering five days. The teams seeded eleven through fourteen play on the first day, with the winners advancing to play the No.5 and No.6 seeds on Thursday. The top four teams receive a "double bye" and do not play until the quarterfinals on Friday. The expansion to 16 teams in 2024 will result in two additional tournament games, but the top four teams will continue to receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals. As of the 2022–23 season, the tournament has most often been held at two venues that have each hosted twelve times. Louisville Gardens in Louisville, Kentucky, served as the regular host from 1941 until the tournament was discontinued after the 1952 edition. The Georgia Dome in Atlanta first hosted the tournament in 1995 and most recently hosted in 2014. Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, is now the regular host, with that venue hosting the tournament from 2015 through 2030, except in 2018 and 2022 (years in which it instead hosted the SEC women's basketball tournament). Sometimes, the tournament will take place at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, or Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The 2018 tournament was held at Scottrade Center, now Enterprise Center, in St. Louis, Missouri, and the 2022 tournament was at Amalie Arena. Prior to moving to the Georgia Dome, the tournament (during its modern, post-1979 era) was most often contested at the venue now known as Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama, home of the SEC's headquarters and centrally located prior to the addition of Arkansas and South Carolina. Other sites to host include on-campus arenas at LSU, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt; Rupp Arena in Lexington; and the Orlando Arena.

NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations

''† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.''

Awards

The SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year is awarded to the player who has proven himself, throughout the season, to be the most exceptional talent in the Southeastern Conference. Various other awards, such as the best tournament player in the SEC tournament and all conference honors are given out throughout the year.

Baseball

Schools play a 30-game league schedule (10 three-game series). Since 1996, schools have played all five schools within their division and five schools from the opposite division. Before the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M in advance of the 2013 season, schools missed only one opponent from the opposite division in a given season; each school now misses three opponents from the opposite division. Since 1990, the SEC has become the most successful conference on the college baseball diamond. That year, Georgia captured the conference's first national championship at the Men's College World Series (MCWS). Following that, LSU won six of the next 19 titles, including five of ten between 1991 and 2000 and its sixth title in 2009. This was followed by South Carolina winning back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011, Vanderbilt winning its first title in 2014, Florida winning its first title in 2017, Vanderbilt winning again in 2019, Mississippi State claiming its first title in 2021, Ole Miss winning its first title in 2022, LSU winning again in 2023, and Tennessee winning its first title in 2024. During that same span, 13 teams have also been runners-up at the MCWS. The MCWS final series featured two SEC teams in 1997, 2011, 2017, 2021, 2023, and 2024, and the 2022 final involved a current member and a future member. The 2022 MCWS featured four current members, all from the SEC West, and both future members. Every current member has appeared at least 5 times except Kentucky, which made its first MCWS appearance in 2024. The only pre-2024 SEC member that has not appeared in the MCWS as an SEC member is Missouri, which has yet to make the NCAA tournament as an SEC member, although it made six MCWS appearances in the 1950s and 1960s while in the Big Eight Conference. Both Georgia Tech and Tulane have made appearances in the MCWS after leaving the SEC. One of the two newest SEC members, Texas, leads all schools in MCWS appearances with 38, and its 6 titles trail only USC (12 titles) and LSU (7). The other new member, Oklahoma, has two titles from 11 MCWS appearances. SEC teams have also become leaders in total and average attendance over the years. In 2022, the top seven programs in average home attendance and the top eight programs in total home attendance were all SEC members, with the exception of Texas. The only SEC members to place outside the top 30 in both measures of attendance were Kentucky and Missouri, with the latter being the only one outside the top 50. The NCAA automatic berth is given to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, which was first started in 1977. It is a double-elimination tournament and seeding is based on regular season records. Since 1998, the tournament has been held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama and contested under the format used at the MCWS from 1988 through 2002, with two four-team brackets leading to a single championship game. The winner receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I baseball tournament. SEC presidents and athletic directors voted to expand the SEC Tournament to ten teams starting in 2012. The division winners received a bye on the first day of competition, and the tournament became single-elimination after the field is pared to four teams. With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M for the 2013 baseball season, the tournament was expanded to 12 teams. The top four seeds receive a bye on the first day, with seeds 5–12 playing single elimination. The tournament is double-elimination for the next three days, then reverts to single elimination when four teams are remaining. The arrival of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024–25 will result in further changes to the conference schedule. The SEC schedule remains at 30 games, but the divisional alignment was scrapped. Each team plays 10 three-game series—two against permanent opponents, and eight against rotating opponents. The future format for the baseball tournament has yet to be determined. In addition to the winner of the SEC Baseball Tournament, the Southeastern Conference usually gets several at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. Many teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament despite failing to win a game in the SEC Tournament. Two of these reached the MCWS despite going 0–2 in the SEC Tournament — Mississippi State in 2007 and Texas A&M in 2024, with Texas A&M reaching the MCWS championship series.

Men's College World Series champions, runners-up, and scores

Note: Teams in bold are current SEC members who advanced to the MCWS while in the conference. Teams in bold italics are current SEC members who were either in another conference or an independent at the time of their appearance.

Men's College World Series appearances

Rivalries

Several baseball rivalries have developed in the SEC:

Women's basketball

The SEC has historically been a strong conference in women's basketball. Since the 2009–10 season, teams have played a 16-game conference schedule with a single league table; prior to that time the conference schedule was 14 games, again in a single table. Like SEC men's basketball, women's basketball used the divisional alignment for scheduling purposes through the 2011–12 season; however, the women's scheduling format was significantly different from the men's. Each team played home-and-home games against five schools—one permanent opponent, two teams from the same division, and two teams from the opposite division; the non-permanent home-and-home opponents rotated every two years. The remaining games were single games against the six other schools in the conference, with three at home and three away. The league voted to keep a 16-game league schedule even after the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M. Arkansas and LSU are no longer permanent opponents, with the Razorbacks picking up Missouri and the Lady Tigers picking up Texas A&M. The other permanent opponents are the same as men's basketball, except for Florida-Georgia and Kentucky-South Carolina (both pairs had been permanent women's basketball opponents before the 2012 expansion). Each school plays two others home-and-home during a given season and the other ten once each. The divisional alignments no longer play any role in scheduling. The conference schedule will remain at 16 games after the 2024 arrival of Oklahoma and Texas. Each team will play home and away against one permanent opponent, with single games against all other teams, evenly divided between home and away games. SEC women's basketball was historically dominated by Tennessee, who won regular-season and/or conference tournament championships in 25 seasons through 2015, as well as eight national championships since 1987. In more recent times, the dominant team has been South Carolina, winning eight regular-season and eight tournament titles since 2014, as well as national titles in 2017, 2022 and 2024. In the 28 seasons the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament has been held, SEC schools have reached the Final Four 32 times, more than twice as often as any other conference.

Basketball tournament

The SEC women's basketball tournament is currently held a week before the men's basketball tournament. Like the men's version, it is a single-elimination tournament involving all conference members, with seeding based on regular season records. With the expansion to 14 schools, the bottom four teams in the conference standings play opening-round games, and the top four receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals. The winner earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Also paralleling the men's tournament, the women's tournament does not determine the SEC champion; that honor has been awarded based on regular-season record since the 1985–86 season. The expansion to 16 teams will result in the addition of two extra games, but the top four teams in the conference standings will continue to receive "double byes" into the quarterfinals. The tournament, inaugurated in 1980, was originally held on campus sites; the first tournament to take place at a neutral site was in 1987. The three most frequent sites for the tournament have been McKenzie Arena in Chattanooga, Tennessee (seven times), the Albany Civic Center in Albany, Georgia (six times), and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville (six times). However, the only one of these venues to have hosted the tournament in the 21st century is Bridgestone Arena. Because demand for women's tournament tickets is generally lower than for the men's tournament, it is typically played in a smaller venue than the men's tournament in the same season. The most frequent venues since 2000 have been Bridgestone Arena, Gas South Arena at Duluth, Georgia (four), and Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas (four).

NCAA tournament champions, runners-up and locations

''† denotes overtime games. Multiple †'s indicate more than one overtime.'' Teams in bold represented the SEC at the time of their championship appearance. Teams in bold italics made their appearances before joining the SEC.

Rivalries

Other sports

Besides football, basketball, and baseball, there are a number of other sports in which the Southeastern Conference actively competes.

Rivalries

National team championships

Since the SEC's founding in December 1932, the varsity athletic teams of its current 14 members have won 261 (38 in addition are current SEC teams that weren't SEC teams when they won a national championship) national team sports championships. The following is the list of the national team championships claimed by current SEC member schools, including those tournament championships currently or formerly sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The NCAA has never sponsored a tournament championship for major college football, the championship game for which is currently part of the College Football Playoff (CFP) system. Prior to 1992, championships for major college football were determined by a "consensus" of major polling services, including the Associated Press and United Press International college football polls. Recognized women's championships from 1972 to 1982 were administered by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), not the NCAA. There was a one-year overlap period during the 1981–82 school year, when both the AIAW and the NCAA operated women's championship tournaments; since 1982, only the NCAA has sponsored women's championship tournaments. National equestrian tournament championships are currently sponsored by the National Collegiate Equestrian Association (NCEA), not the NCAA. Those national championships dating from before 1933 predate the founding of the SEC in December 1932; championships won by Arkansas and South Carolina before the 1992–93 school year predate their membership in the SEC; championships won by Missouri and Texas A&M before the 2012–13 school year predate their membership in the SEC; championships won by Oklahoma and Texas before the 2024–25 school year predate their membership in the SEC. Football (54): 1919 – Texas A&M* 1925 – Alabama* 1926 – Alabama* 1927 – Texas A&M* 1930 – Alabama* 1934 – Alabama 1938 – Tennessee 1939 – Texas A&M* 1940 – Tennessee 1941 – Alabama 1942 – Georgia 1950 – Oklahoma* 1951 – Tennessee 1955 – Oklahoma* 1956 – Oklahoma* 1957 – Auburn 1958 – LSU 1959 – Ole Miss 1960 – Ole Miss 1961 – Alabama 1962 – Ole Miss 1963 – Texas* 1964 – Arkansas* 1965 – Alabama 1967 – Tennessee 1969 – Texas* 1970 – Texas* 1973 – Alabama 1974 – Oklahoma* 1975 – Oklahoma* 1978 – Alabama 1979 – Alabama 1980 – Georgia 1985 – Oklahoma* 1992 – Alabama 1996 – Florida 1998 – Tennessee 2000 – Oklahoma* 2003 – LSU 2005 – Texas* 2006 – Florida 2007 – LSU 2008 – Florida 2009 – Alabama 2010 – Auburn 2011 – Alabama 2012 – Alabama 2015 – Alabama 2017 – Alabama 2019 – LSU 2020 – Alabama 2021 – Georgia 2022 – Georgia Baseball (23): 1949 – Texas* 1950 – Texas* 1951 – Oklahoma* 1954 – Missouri* 1975 – Texas* 1983 – Texas* 1990 – Georgia 1991 – LSU 1993 – LSU 1994 – Oklahoma* 1996 – LSU 1997 – LSU 2000 – LSU 2002 – Texas* 2005 – Texas* 2009 – LSU 2010 – South Carolina 2011 – South Carolina 2014 – Vanderbilt 2017 – Florida 2019 – Vanderbilt 2021 – Mississippi State 2022 – Ole Miss 2023 – LSU 2024 – Tennessee Men's basketball (12): 1935 – LSU 1948 – Kentucky 1949 – Kentucky 1951 – Kentucky 1958 – Kentucky 1978 – Kentucky 1994 – Arkansas 1996 – Kentucky 1998 – Kentucky 2006 – Florida 2007 – Florida 2012 – Kentucky Women's basketball (14): 1986 – Texas* 1987 – Tennessee 1989 – Tennessee 1991 – Tennessee 1996 – Tennessee 1997 – Tennessee 1998 – Tennessee 2007 – Tennessee 2008 – Tennessee 2011 – Texas A&M* 2017 – South Carolina 2022 – South Carolina 2023 – LSU 2024 – South Carolina Women's bowling (3): 2007 – Vanderbilt 2018 – Vanderbilt 2023 – Vanderbilt Boxing (1): 1949 – LSU Men's cross country (12): 1972 – Tennessee 1984 – Arkansas* 1986 – Arkansas* 1987 – Arkansas* 1990 – Arkansas* 1991 – Arkansas* 1992 – Arkansas 1993 – Arkansas 1995 – Arkansas 1998 – Arkansas 1999 – Arkansas 2000 – Arkansas Women's cross country (2): 1986 – Texas* 1988 – Kentucky Women's equestrian (18): 2002 – Texas A&M* 2003 – Georgia 2004 – Georgia 2005 – South Carolina 2006 – Auburn 2007 – South Carolina 2008 – Georgia 2009 – Georgia 2010 – Georgia 2011 – Auburn 2012 – Texas A&M* 2013 – Auburn 2014 – Georgia 2015 – South Carolina 2016 – Auburn 2017 – Texas A&M 2018 – Auburn 2019 – Auburn Men's golf (22): 1940 – LSU 1942 – LSU 1947 – LSU 1955 – LSU 1968 – Florida 1971 – Texas* 1972 – Texas* 1973 – Florida 1989 – Oklahoma* 1993 – Florida 1999 – Georgia 2001 – Florida 2005 – Georgia 2009 – Texas A&M* 2012 – Texas* 2013 – Alabama 2014 – Alabama 2015 – LSU 2017 – Oklahoma* 2022 – Texas* 2023 – Florida 2024 – Auburn Women's golf (5): 1985 – Florida 1986 – Florida 2001 – Georgia 2012 − Alabama 2021 − Ole Miss Women's gymnastics (28): 1982 – Florida (AIAW) 1987 – Georgia 1988 – Alabama 1989 – Georgia 1991 – Alabama 1993 – Georgia 1996 – Alabama 1998 – Georgia 1999 – Georgia 2002 – Alabama 2005 – Georgia 2006 – Georgia 2007 – Georgia 2008 – Georgia 2009 – Georgia 2011 – Alabama 2012 – Alabama 2013 – Florida 2014 – Florida / Oklahoma* (tie) 2015 – Florida 2016 – Oklahoma* 2017 – Oklahoma* 2019 – Oklahoma* 2022 – Oklahoma* 2023 – Oklahoma* 2024 – LSU Men's gymnastics (12): 1977 – Oklahoma* 1978 – Oklahoma* 1991 – Oklahoma* 2002 – Oklahoma* 2003 – Oklahoma* 2005 – Oklahoma* 2006 – Oklahoma* 2008 – Oklahoma* 2015 – Oklahoma* 2016 – Oklahoma* 2017 – Oklahoma* 2018 – Oklahoma* Rifle (4): 2011 – Kentucky 2018 – Kentucky 2021 – Kentucky 2022 – Kentucky Women's Rowing (3): 2021 – Texas* 2022 – Texas* 2024 – Texas* Women's soccer (1): 1998 – Florida Softball (14): 1982 – Texas A&M (AIAW)* 1983 – Texas A&M* 1987 – Texas A&M* 2000 – Oklahoma* 2012 – Alabama 2013 – Oklahoma* 2014 – Florida 2015 – Florida 2016 – Oklahoma* 2017 – Oklahoma* 2021 – Oklahoma* 2022 – Oklahoma* 2023 – Oklahoma* 2024 – Oklahoma* Men's swimming (26): 1978 – Tennessee 1981 – Texas* 1983 – Florida 1984 – Florida 1988 – Texas* 1989 – Texas* 1990 – Texas* 1991 – Texas* 1996 – Texas* 1997 – Auburn 1999 – Auburn 2000 – Texas* 2001 – Texas* 2002 – Texas* 2003 – Auburn 2004 – Auburn 2005 – Auburn 2006 – Auburn 2007 – Auburn 2009 – Auburn 2010 – Texas* 2015 – Texas* 2016 – Texas* 2017 – Texas* 2018 – Texas* 2021 – Texas* Women's swimming (24): 1979 – Florida (AIAW) 1981 – Texas* (AIAW) 1982 – Texas* (AIAW) 1982 – Florida 1984 – Texas* 1985 – Texas* 1986 – Texas* 1987 – Texas* 1988 – Texas* 1990 – Texas* 1991 – Texas* 1999 – Georgia 2000 – Georgia 2001 – Georgia 2002 – Auburn 2003 – Auburn 2004 – Auburn 2005 – Georgia 2006 – Auburn 2007 – Auburn 2010 – Florida 2013 – Georgia 2014 – Georgia 2016 – Georgia Men's tennis (8): 1985 – Georgia 1987 – Georgia 1999 – Georgia 2001 – Georgia 2007 – Georgia 2008 – Georgia 2019 – Texas* 2021 – Florida Women's tennis (15): 1992 – Florida 1993 – Texas* 1995 – Texas* 1994 – Georgia 1996 – Florida 1998 – Florida 2000 – Georgia 2003 – Florida 2011 – Florida 2012 − Florida 2015 – Vanderbilt 2017 – Florida 2021 – Texas* 2022 – Texas* 2024 – Texas A&M Men's indoor track (30): 1965 – Missouri* 1984 – Arkansas* 1985 – Arkansas* 1986 – Arkansas* 1987 – Arkansas* 1988 – Arkansas* 1989 – Arkansas* 1990 – Arkansas* 1991 – Arkansas* 1992 – Arkansas* 1993 – Arkansas 1994 – Arkansas 1995 – Arkansas 1997 – Arkansas 1998 – Arkansas 1999 – Arkansas 2000 – Arkansas 2001 – LSU 2002 – Tennessee 2003 – Arkansas 2004 – LSU 2005 – Arkansas 2006 – Arkansas 2010 – Florida 2011 – Florida 2012 − Florida 2013 – Arkansas 2017 – Texas A&M 2018 – Florida 2019 – Florida 2022 – Texas* 2023 – Arkansas Women's indoor track (25): 1986 – Texas* 1987 – LSU 1988 – Texas* 1989 – LSU 1990 – Texas* 1991 – LSU 1992 – Florida 1993 – LSU 1994 – LSU 1995 – LSU 1996 – LSU 1997 – LSU 1998 – Texas* 1999 – Texas* 2002 – LSU 2003 – LSU 2004 – LSU 2005 – Tennessee 2006 – Texas* 2009 – Tennessee 2015 – Arkansas 2018 – Georgia 2019 – Arkansas 2021 – Arkansas 2022 – Florida 2023 – Arkansas Men's outdoor track (26): 1933 – LSU 1974 – Tennessee 1985 – Arkansas* 1989 – LSU 1990 – LSU 1991 – Tennessee 1992 – Arkansas* 1993 – Arkansas 1994 – Arkansas 1995 – Arkansas 1996 – Arkansas 1997 – Arkansas 1998 – Arkansas 1999 – Arkansas 2001 – Tennessee 2002 – LSU 2003 – Arkansas 2009 – Texas A&M* 2010 – Texas A&M* 2011 – Texas A&M* 2012 − Florida 2013 − Florida / Texas A&M (tie) 2016 − Florida 2017 – Florida 2021 – LSU 2022 – Florida 2023 – Florida 2024 – Florida Women's outdoor track (29): 1981 – Tennessee (AIAW) 1982 – Texas* (AIAW) 1986 – Texas* 1987 – LSU 1988 – LSU 1989 – LSU 1990 – LSU 1991 – LSU 1992 – LSU 1993 – LSU 1994 – LSU 1995 – LSU 1996 – LSU 1997 – LSU 1998 – Texas* 1999 – Texas* 2000 – LSU 2002 – South Carolina 2003 – LSU 2005 – Texas* 2006 – Auburn 2008 – LSU 2009 – Texas A&M* 2010 – Texas A&M* 2011 – Texas A&M* 2014 – Texas A&M 2016 – Arkansas 2019 – Arkansas 2022 – Florida 2023 – Texas* 2024 – Arkansas Women's volleyball (6): 1981 – Texas* (AIAW) 1988 – Texas* 2012 – Texas* 2020 – Kentucky 2022 – Texas* 2023 – Texas* Wrestling (7): 1936 – Oklahoma* 1951 – Oklahoma* 1952 – Oklahoma* 1957 – Oklahoma* 1960 – Oklahoma* 1963 – Oklahoma* 1974 – Oklahoma*

• A championship marked by an asterisk (*) indicates that the institution was not a member of the SEC at the time of the championship.

National team titles claimed by current SEC institutions

The fourteen members of the Southeastern Conference claim over 200 national team championships in sports currently or formerly sponsored by conference members. The following totals include national team championships sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 1906 to present, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1972 to 1982, and, in football, the Bowl Alliance, Bowl Coalition, Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and College Football Playoff (CFP) since 1992, as well as consensus national championships determined by the major football polls prior to 1992.

NCAA and AIAW national tournament team titles won by current SEC institutions

The following totals include national team tournament championships sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) from 1906 to the present and the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1972 to 1982. The NCAA did not sponsor tournament championships in women's sports before the 1981–82 academic year, and the NCAA has never sponsored a national championship playoff or tournament in major college football. To date, the fourteen members of the SEC have won 216 NCAA and four AIAW championships:

Broadcasting and media rights

SEC sports are televised exclusively by the ESPN family of networks, which includes ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ESPN+, and SEC+. For football scheduling, the SEC designates start windows (either Noon–1 EST, 3:30–4:30 EST, 3:30–8 EST, or 6–8 EST) before the season begins and schedules start times as the season progresses. ABC serves as the primary broadcaster of SEC football games with three possible broadcast windows available to air games: noon, 3:30 EST, and 7:30 EST. Every week, ABC designates its 3:30 EST window for an SEC game, carrying on the SEC's traditional window from its previous media rights agreement with CBS. However, unlike with CBS, the marquee game of the week does not necessarily air at 3:30 EST. The marquee game can air in any of the three windows that maximizes exposure, which is usually ABC's Saturday Night Football window at 7:30 EST. There is no limit to the maximum number of SEC games that can be designated for Saturday Night Football. This allows for ABC to air as many SEC doubleheaders, or tripleheaders in some weeks, as they would like throughout the season (compared to a limit of two doubleheaders per season with CBS). ABC broadcasts are presented under the SEC on ABC banner. ABC also broadcasts the SEC Championship Game. Remaining football games are assigned to ESPN and its other networks. Each season, one football game and a few men's basketball games for each team are broadcast on ESPN+ and SEC+, the online component of the SEC Network. Most other sports are broadcast on the SEC Network or on SEC+. All SEC schools broadcast their radio play-by-play through Sirius XM, and the conference carries its own full-time radio network on satellite channel 374, and via Sirius XM Online.

History

The SEC created the College Football Association in 1977 with other major conferences to negotiate contracts for broadcasting college football games. Jefferson Pilot Sports began syndicated television coverage of men's basketball games in 1986 and football games in 1992, which were picked after the CFA allocated games for its national contract. In 1994, the SEC became the first conference to leave the CFA when it announced a deal with CBS to televise one game each week. CBS paid about $17 million per season for the right to show the best game of the week. The network was required to televise each team at least once per season. The Conference soon reached a deal with ESPN to broadcast games in primetime. In August 2008, the SEC announced an unprecedented 15-year television contract with CBS worth an estimated $55 million a year. This continued the previous deal that made CBS the exclusive over-the-air broadcaster of SEC sports. In the same month, the league also announced another landmark television contract with ESPN worth $2.25 billion or $150 million a year for fifteen years. The ESPN deal replaced the syndicated contract and ensured that all SEC football games would be televised nationally. The deal also committed ESPN and the conference to the creation of the SEC Network, which was finally created in 2014 and allowed for a significant increase in television coverage of SEC sports. Together, these contracts helped make the SEC one of the most nationally televised and visible conferences in the country. In 2020, the SEC announced a new deal that made ESPN the sole televisor of SEC sports starting in 2024. The ten-year contract was reported to be about $300 million per year and will allow ESPN to broadcast the SEC on ABC as well as rights to the SEC Championship Game.

SEC Network

The SEC Network is a television and multimedia network that features exclusively Southeastern Conference content through a partnership between ESPN and the SEC. The network launched on August 14, 2014, with the first live football game scheduled for two weeks later between Texas A&M and South Carolina on Thursday, August 28 in Columbia, South Carolina. The network is part of a deal between the Southeastern Conference and ESPN which is a 20-year agreement, beginning in August 2014 and running through 2034. The agreement served to create and operate a new multiplatform television network and accompanying digital platform in the hope of increasing revenue for member institutions and expanding the reach of the Southeastern Conference.

Awards and honors

Athlete of the Year

The conference has presented athlete of the year awards in men's sports since 1976 and women's sports since 1984. The award was named the Roy F. Kramer Athlete of the Year Award in 2004 after the former commissioner.

NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup rankings

The NACDA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup is an annual award given by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the U.S. colleges and universities with the most success in collegiate athletics.

2022–23 Capital One Cup standings

The Capital One Cup is an award given annually to the best men's and women's Division I college athletics programs in the United States. Points are earned throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Championships and final coaches' poll rankings.

Conference champions

The Southeastern Conference sponsors nine men's sports and 13 women's sports, and awards a conference championship in every one of them.